Get Outsiders to help you see things
Philips is moving from a high-volume electronics manufacturere to a design-led, lifestyle technology company. It needs help to get there so it set up a ’simplicity board’. Philips reckoned it needed a fresh perspective from creative types with no ties to the company. So it formed the simplicity board, a group of specialists in health care, fashion, design, and architecture. “Philips was too inward-looking,” says Andrea Ragnetti, Chief Marketing Offier. “To really embed simplicity into the company’s DNA, we needed an element of vision.”
You can read the details in this Businessweek article.
Often we are so close to our own products that it is difficult for us to see clearly. An outsider can bring a simpler, fresher view. How can you harness the creative input of outisders to improve your innovation?
For Philips, the promise of simplicity isn’t just about making products that are easier to use. The bigger challenge is rewiring the entire organization. The board’s primary contribution, says British fashion designer and board member, Sarah Berman, is “using creative chaos to affect lasting change.”