Neither studies nor market research nor computer modeling is a substitute for the test of reality.
Everything improved or new needs first to be tested on a small scale; that is, it needs to be piloted. The way to do this is to find somebody within the enterprise who really wants the new. Everything new gets into trouble. And then it needs a champion. It needs somebody who says, “I am going to make this succeed,” and who then goes to work on it. And this person needs to be somebody whom the organization respects. This need not even be somebody within the organization.
Often a good way to pilot a new product or new service is to find a customer who really wants the new, and who is willing to work with the producer on making truly successful the new product or the new service. If the pilot test is successful—it finds the problems nobody anticipated but also finds the opportunities that nobody anticipated, whether in terms of design, of market, of service—the risk of change is usually quite small.
ACTION POINT: Make sure the best ideas in your organization have fierce advocates to see them through a test in the marketplace.
Management Challenges for the 21st Century
* Source: The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker