On Wednesday, September 9, Thomas D. Kuczmarski, a nationally recognized expert in the innovation of new products and services joined Niagara Foundation for a roundtable discussion on values of innovations, some tactics and substance of it.
Kuczmarski told us at Niagara Foundation that one has to create an environment within an organization that has a culture that people strive for. If the culture is not pulling employees in its nature, they will leave at their next opportunity. That is why innovations are important to reconstruct and modify the atmosphere and system according to real customer needs.
As expert Kuczmarski explained, a successful innovation starts with a clear vision and diagnosis that leads to a strong strategy in order to define the role and goals of innovation within certain organizations. Those innovative steps and strategies should be always responding to customer real and practical needs.
Today, it does not matter if you are a big corporation or a small startup many of the issues and challenges that are within innovation are for all of them. “So, that is another trend that I’ve seen and that is the big companies are finally recognizing the value of small startups and entrepreneurs,” said the expert.
“Before it was about product development, whereas now it is about new services, it is about new business models it is about new customer and consumer experiences, it is about new marketing programs, it is about new ways to produce business. So the original definition of innovation has evolved from product specific to what my definition of innovation is anything that creates benefits that is differentiated from competition that ultimately is valued by the customers. And then and only then you can create an economic wealth,” said Kuczmarski.
There are innovations in every possible field today, however, according to Kuczmarski, companies do a “lousy” job of recognizing employees. It is vital to recognize and praise people of what they do and to accentuate their strength and really emphasize on what they do.
One of the important pieces of advice that Kuczmarski gives to entrepreneurs in order to motivate and get excited its employees to work is that culture is essential: “Because if you don’t create a culture that people want to come to, it then just becomes a job. And as soon as they can find some other job that is going to pay more money they will leave. There has to be a culture where people feel valued.”
We at Niagara Foundation want to thank Thomas D. Kuczmarski for dedicating time to a roundtable discussion about his expertise and guidance for our audience.