Zainul Mawji, Executive Vice-president and President, TELUS Consumer Solutions.
New ideas are critical in business—not just for growth, but for survival. It’s a game of disrupt or die: no matter how established your organization is, if you don’t embrace disruptive ideas to evolve, new players will happily beat you to it.
The problem is that good ideas are a dime a dozen. Great ideas that scale are a different story. Even in a fail-fast culture, leaders must discern which ones deserve their blood, sweat and tears, or they risk the cost of precious resources. Unfortunately, there are no algorithms to tell you what will be a home run, yet some entrepreneurs and business leaders seem to have incredible intuition for when an idea will take flight.
How do they see it so clearly? And is it possible to train yourself to consistently identify the ideas worth pursuing, whether it’s starting or expanding your business, taking on a partner, or developing a new product or service?
The answer, of course, is yes, but you need the right approach. I use three fundamental criteria—I call them my “trifecta”—for determining good ideas for growth. This decision framework can help you distinguish the good from the great.
1. Does it deliver value your customers can’t get anywhere else?
If you’re going to invest time and resources into launching something new, it has to answer a need for as many potential customers as possible and set you apart from your peers. At minimum, the product or service should be new and innovative. If it already exists, then you need to bring it to the market in a unique way, and it must be hard for a competitor to replicate.
Beyond that key criteria, the idea needs to have a meaningful impact for the end customer, whether it affects their efficiency, their health or safety, or their enjoyment of life.
The true litmus test is will it provide enough value to customers that they will pay and stay for it? The answer must be “yes” for your idea to work and have long-term growth potential.
2. Does it add value to your business?
Even if customers will pay for your product or service, is there a clear path to profitability?
Typically, a business idea needs to have some degree of broad appeal; if it’s too niche, it’s difficult to scale and ultimately achieve the margins it needs to be viable.
I like to put it this way: could the new venture “wash its own face”? It may not have the same margins as core mature products, but the idea needs to have a growth profile that indicates it will stand on its own in the not-too-distant future.
The reality is that great ideas that can actually scale are few and far between. So be selective, because launching any new business requires exceptional effort. If you’re not thoughtful, it can distract from your existing core businesses.
To throw your full weight behind it, you need to have confidence that it can, and will, scale into profitability all on its own.
3. Will it have positive social impacts?
Finally, the idea needs to create net-positive social impacts.This isn’t about tax-deductible donations; it’s about seeing the big picture. Any business is only as healthy as the economy and community it operates in. So ask yourself: is there a way to deliver the product or service with a sustainable strategy and ensure it makes positive contributions to society? Will it help make the world a better place?
Demonstrating good corporate citizenship is not only an ethical responsibility; it’s good business. Growing numbers of customers now direct their purchasing power toward organizations that align with their values. The same is true from a talent recruitment and retention perspective. People want to put their energy behind companies that are working with purpose.
Moreover, the best business ideas have longevity. If you plan to be around for the long haul, you have to make sure your strategy is not just profitable, but socially sustainable.
Putting The Trifecta Into Practice
The ideas that satisfy the trifecta have the best likelihood for success. About four years ago, my company, TELUS, was looking for new ways to utilize our networks. We saw an opportunity in the security and home automation space, but security was a maturing market—most people who wanted home security systems already had them and that number was not growing. We took a different approach, targeting new customer segments with internet-connected home automation systems, which included security cameras, app-controlled heating and lighting, Wi-Fi-enabled garage doors—an updated take on your traditional security system.
Framed that way, we were able to deliver increased safety to our customers through smart tools that can make living at home easier. There was a clear path to profitable business growth, and we continue to offer these services across communities.
Despite being a great idea, none of this would have happened if we didn’t have a culture of embracing innovation. A willingness to disrupt the market with a new idea must be cultivated in an organization, so everyone feels empowered to bring forward innovations with the potential to measurably impact business outcomes. Your job as a leader is to facilitate that environment by establishing a culture of respect and transparency about sharing ideas.
Using this trifecta decision framework can help you identify which small seeds can be nurtured into mighty businesses.
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