Every company that wants innovation, needs to begin with the Why question. If you aren’t already familiar with Simon Sinek’s Start with Why, please check it out here

Here are some typical why’s I’ve heard;

1. We are in a Kodak moment, our flagship product is going to be disrupted

2. We need to experiment with growth into new products and ventures, but in an agile and lean way so we don’t end up with too much sunk cost

3. There are all these emerging opportunities that we are not nimble enough to exploit

4. We worry about the impact of technology on our business, and becoming someone’s technical debt in the future

5. Not having a moonshot is going to exclude us from new talent

6. We just want to be proactive and innovate for our customers to keep them satisfied

7. The board says we can get more for less with new technology and practises

8. We need to survive in a post Amazon and Ali world

The What to do and How to do it only makes sense once we know how to get to the correct Why – not just the Why of the Board or owners of a company, but a Why that reflects the real sentiments of the Customer and Market as well.