NETTING IT OUT

Patty’s Visionaries are a hand-picked group of customer-centric executives that we meet with twice a year. The tradition began in 1998, with the executives featured in our first book, Customers.com. We’ve kept the group going ever since, adding new members as people retire or change jobs.

Patty’s Visionaries are natural innovators and leaders. They are great listeners. They are also great story-tellers. It’s a privilege to listen to them compare notes and share their stories every six months.

At our Winter 2010 meeting, one theme that came up in multiple conversations intrigued me: How can you take all the great ideas that come from customers, partners, and employees and make them actually happen? Let’s look at the different aspects of outside innovation generation and what you need to do to actually turn ideation into innovation...