I was asked to give a 4-hour lecture this week on innovation processes at in the F5+ class at TUFTS University, which is hosted my Cambridge Consultants colleagues Maureen Mulcare and Ashley Russell. The goal was to introduce students to the processes that help companies uncover opportunities, select them and match them with credible value propositions / concepts. The main point carried accross was that one must really define “what”, before defining “how”, a point that is seldom self-evident for engineering students (I should know, I was one).
The class was highly interactive, as I simulated a high-energy creativity session where the class was asked to participate and come up with full blown concepts (how) based on clear objectives and criteria (what).