Apple has become synonymous with product innovation. We have a number of clients in the life sciences, in healthcare, and even in public health who say they aspire to be like Apple. What they really mean is they want to make very hip, cutting-edge, trend-setting products. They want customers with cult-like devotion. And they want to score major "cool points" -- lots of 'em. All while making a ton of money.

Which is a problem. Why? It reminds me of a large, national, nonprofit we work with that said they want to be world class. The question was, are they willing to pay the price of being world class? Like letting go of mediocre employees, investing in top training programs, rewarding high performance, etc. 

Similarly, companies that want to establish a value discipline of innovation need to be willing to pay the price. In the development phase alone, Apple makes a huge investment. For example:

• A small team of extremely well-paid, top-notch designers with a maniacal focus on perfection.
• Who create 10 perfect mock-ups for each potential new product feature, from which three mock-ups will be selected for further exploration, to result in the feature in as perfect a form as possible.
• Which means Apple knows in advance that they will get rid of 90% (9 of 10 mock-ups) of what they create.
• And happily makes that investment.
• Fueled by leadership that is relentlessly committed to winning by innovating.

Which results in game-changing, industry-inventing, highly profitable products with incredible demand.

And Apple's style of innovation invite a fundamental re-positioning of form and function. As Alain Briellat put it in his excellent analysis:

"Apple doesn’t sell functional products; they sell fashionable pieces of functional art."

So... two simple questions for you, dear reader:

1) What do you sell?

2) Are you willing to invest what it takes to be a top innovator in your space?

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P.S. Check out these classics: Peter Drucker on The Discipline of Innovation, and Treacy & Wiersema on Value Disciplines.

When asked for help, the late great management guru Peter Drucker asked two basic questions. The first was "what business are you in?" In Good to Great, Jim Collins distinguishes between what a company needs to preserve - its core purpose and values, and what a company needs to change to stimulate progress. In our consulting work, we invite clients to complete this simple sentence: We are in business to ___________________ . These three approaches have in common the importance of identifying your core purpose, adhering to it, and distinguishing it from the strategies and practices you employ to achieve your core purpose.

The classic example of confusing purpose and practices goes choo-choo. Fifty years ago, railroad execs thought they were in the business of trains. Had they realized they were really in the transportation business, they would likely be leaders in the industry today. As Theodore Levitt tells the story in the timeless HBR article Marketing Myopia, railroad executives were product-oriented, not customer-oriented.

It is easy to sway from one's core purpose: I saw this laboratory's office sign on their building in Atlanta on a recent business trip. Lots of lab services. And bonus, passports too! 

Ready to stay true to your core purpose? Then answer these three questions:

1. What business are you in?
2. Why are you in this business?
3. What is your core purpose?

Next then is linking your answers to the two central marketing questions - the "dynamic duo" as it were.

1. Who are your customers?
2. Why should they choose you?

Let me know how it goes for you!