Searching for New Ideas in the Curious Things Your Customers Do

Studying “average users” doesn’t give you a lot of ideas for growth opportunities. Instead, you need to look at the people doing something different. Consider the story of Steve Hughes. Twenty-five years ago, he was the CEO of Tropicana. He was in a plant and noticed some of the workers on a break; they were taking the excess pulp — normally a waste product — and putting it back into a special batch of juice for their personal consumption. “That’s funny,” Hughes said to himself, his curiosity piqued. When Hughes asked them why, the workers told him they liked the “fresh squeezed” taste. Shortly thereafter Hughes led the launch of Tropicana Grovestand, a $500 million brand within four years. When leaders look at behavior of non-average users and learn to react with a curious “That’s funny,” instead of a dismissive “That’s weird,” they can spot all kinds of opportunities.