The Killer Questions Your Company Should Be Asking Generating and executing great ideas is the key to staying ahead in a rapidly changing world. It seems so basic. Why is it so hard to actually get right? According to innovation expert Phil McKinney, the real problem is that we're teaching people to ask the wrong questions about their businesses--or none at all. There has to be a better way.
In
Beyond the Obvious, McKinney will help you use his proven FIRE (Focus, Ideation, Rank, Execution) Method to dig deeper and get back to asking the
right questions--the ones all companies must ask to survive. Full of real-world examples, this book will change the way you operate, innovate, and create, and it all begins with battle-tested questions Phil has gathered on note cards throughout his career. Shared for the first time here, these "Killer Questions" include:
- What are the rules and assumptions my industry operates under? What if the opposite were true?
- What will be the buying criteria used by my customer in 5 years?
- What are my unshakable beliefs about what my customers want?
- Who uses my product in ways I never anticipated?
These questions will reframe the way you see your products, your customers, and the way the two interact. Whether you're a company of thousands or a lean startup,
Beyond the Obvious will give you the skills and easy-to-follow plan you need to make both the revolutionary changes and nuanced tweaks required for success.
Praise for
Beyond the Obvious "Human beings are creatures of habit, so getting ourselves and our teams to think beyond the obvious is a challenge we face all the time. Phil McKinney is an innovation expert, and his killer questions and hit-the-spot anecdotes provide a great way to get out in front of opportunities we otherwise won't see." -- Geoffrey Moore, author of
Crossing the Chasm and
Escape Velocity "I've always believed that asking the right questions is the essence of design. Phil McKinney proves that point with this wonderful set of killer questions that will jumpstart-or greatly enhance- your innovation efforts." -- B. Joseph Pine II, co-author,
The Experience Economy &
Infinite Possibility. "Product Innovation is a prerequisite to building great brands. Phil's questions are a prerequisite to building innovative products." -- Satjiv S. Chahil, former global marketing chief, Apple"
Phil McKinney has spent four decades doing what most innovation experts only advise: making the actual call, then living with the result.
He co-founded Teligent and served on the executive team through its IPO, then went on to serve as CTO of Hewlett-Packard and later as President and CEO of CableLabs, the R&D lab responsible for the technology that powers the global broadband industry. At HP, the teams he built were named among FastCompany and BusinessWeek's "50 Most Innovative" three consecutive years.
Beyond The Obvious, published in 2012, is where he first made that body of work accessible to everyone outside the room. The FIRE method and the 48 Killer Questions at the center of the book have since been used by thousands of organizations and governments worldwide, in industries ranging from technology and healthcare to finance and public policy.
He has hosted a podcast on innovation since 2005, longer than most in the field have existed. Now called The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinney, it has accumulated tens of millions of downloads across more than two decades.
He lives in Colorado.
