If you are like most people you probably love using the cruise control on your car.  You focus on your speed as you accelerate up to the speed limit or more likely a little beyond and then set the cruise control and relax.  It is in all of us to want to sit back and cruise a little and enjoy the views, but cruising doesn't usually make you the lead dog.  The hardest part if any endeavor that is worthwhile is getting started.  The energy needed to launch an innovation practice and overcome the inertia is always the biggest at the beginning. 

Think of the space shuttle and those giant Solid Rocket Boosters or (SRBs) that are attached to the space shuttle body for lift off.  They provide 71% of the thrust (energy) needed to just get off the ground.  In just two minutes the space shuttle is approximately 28 miles above earth and the SRBs detach and are no longer needed, but what a critical two minutes they are.  The whole mission depends on those SRBs doing their job to overcome the earth's gravity in those two minutes. 

  When you launch your own innovation practice, don't underestimate the energy necessary to have a successful launch.  Some people and many large organizations (especially government institutions) think that if they throw enough money at a problem it will get fixed.  However, money is not (I repeat) is NOT energy and will never replace the energy requirement for a successful launch.  The view from the space shuttle must be truly spectacular, a view that only the elite few have seen but it is the launch that makes it all happen.

So you know you need to be an innovator in your industry but you are not sure where to look.  Join the club!!  The best of the best have trouble with their crystal ball working all of the time.  The future is not easy to see from a distance.  The key is getting closer so the fuzzy picture can become clearer.  

We must launch our innovation effort and keep moving forward if our ideas are ever going to get some traction.  Momentum is so critical!  So, go ahead and launch even if your goals are still a little fuzzy (see link for fuzzy goal ideas http://sunnibrown.com/the-book/) and get some momentum started!  The goal will usually get clearer once you establish a direction and the research along the way will help you correct your course.

If you can't find a target for your product or service then make sure you are being a target.  Think about it, we really don't know a lot about who wants or needs us.  We can make assumptions about where to find a target for our latest and greatest products and services and spend a lot of money and time trying to find them but still it is a lot of guess work.  On the other hand trying to be a target makes us think about how to stand out in a crowd or in the wilderness.  Like a hunter in the woods it is obvious that bright orange clothing doesn't fit into the surroundings and it is easy to spot.   That is why it is sooooo vital to differentiate your product, your services and your business!