Breakthrough!: a 7-step system for developing unexpected and profitable ideas

We all know the tale of Sir Isaac Newton sitting under a tree and supposedly getting hit on the head with a falling apple... consequently coming up with the revolutionary concept of gravity. Most of us think of groundbreaking business ideas in the same way: a matter of happy inspiration over which we have no real control. But it's time to stop thinking like that, and start taking control....

A winning idea can revolutionize a business! (Or at least dramatically improve a bottom line.) And Breakthrough! lays out for you an easy-to-follow, step-by-step process for big-idea development, refinement, targeting, marketing, and marketplace execution. Packed with entertaining explanations of the practical procedures that can lead you to breakout hits, Breakthrough! gives you the inspiration and guidance you need to leverage this idea methodology; encourage free-thinking; nurture good ideas; and bring revolutionary, revenue-generating new concepts to market.

In seven simple steps you'll discover the best practices you need to put in place to arrive at and launch new ideas that can become cultural and business phenomena. Filled with fascinating and illuminating examples, including Swiffer, Southwest Airlines, and Home Depot - plus a whole lot more - Breakthrough! supplies you with the techniques and procedures wildly successful companies use to consistently arrive at and launch the kind of industry-changing ideas that make consumers sit up and take notice. --Book Jacket.

Includes index.

Step 1. Put an end to business as usual. How ya doin'? -- Why rules are traps -- The new rules -- Step 2. Get business buy-in. Build the sale -- Make it stick -- Step 3. Organize the team and process. True believers, consensus builders, and odd ducks -- Fire up the engines -- Parameters and process -- Step 4. Land on the big idea. What are you selling? -- What are you looking for? -- The competitive landscape -- Coming up with the big idea -- Give every idea a chance to live -- Sifting and Winnowing -- Step 5. Build momentum for the idea. Determine the dimensions of the idea -- Research -- Due diligence -- Budgets -- Management buy-in -- Step 6. Develop the plan. What should the plan look like? -- Sell the plan -- Who ya gonna call? -- Step 7. The launch. Let's do launch -- Implement a readable test -- Read, roll, or kill -- Celebrate! -- The end -- and the beginning.