Free Prize Inside summary

From TED Talk speakers to business book writers, nearly everyone seems to agree that innovation is the key to success in the modern economy. And many would argue that we need to “think big” in order to innovate. After all, very few people get excited about minor technical improvements, like a computer with slightly better processing power. If you want to grab the public’s attention, you’ve got to unleash a product or service that’s revolutionary, right? 

Yes and no. It depends on what you mean by “revolutionary.” Is it something that’s going to transform society radically, like Thomas Edison’s light bulb? In that case, you’re probably thinking too big. 

Think of the last time you learned about a hot new product. How did it appear on your radar? Chances are it wasn’t through a traditional ad. It was probably through some form of word-of-mouth communication. Maybe you heard about it in a conversation. Or perhaps you read about it online.  

Now that advertising is no longer as effective, word-of-mouth is how most products or services gain traction these days. People talk about them. But if you want people to talk about your product, you’ve got to give them a reason to talk about it. And that means it needs to be remarkable – as in, worthy of being remarked upon to other people. 

All right, so all you need to do now is come up with an idea for a free prize that will make your product or service so remarkable and desirable that people will be buzzing about it. That sounds like one of those things that’s much easier said than done. But in this case, it’s actually pretty easy to do. There’s a simple technique for finding a soft innovation that will give you a leg up over the competition. Call it edgecraft – the art of giving your product or service an edge. 

The key message here is: Use the technique of edgecraft to identify a soft innovation that can give you and your customers a free prize. 

Now that we’ve looked at the general concept of edgecraft, let’s roll up our sleeves and dig into the specifics of how to implement it. To get started, imagine you have a product, service, or business that you want to take to the edge, but you’re drawing a blank on what to do with it. How do you come up with an innovative idea? 

You don’t need to wait for a lightbulb moment or practice some sort of sophisticated brainstorming technique. There’s a simple, four-step process you can use to jumpstart your thinking and find a shortcut to your edge. 

If you flip through a dictionary, you can take just about any adjective and turn it into your edge: excessive, fashionable, ergonomic, sensuous, interactive, convenient – the list of possible edges goes on and on. We can’t possibly cover all of them, so let’s focus on just a few that provide some broader lessons about the art of edgecraft.

The key message here is: The extent of the edges you can explore is limited only by your imagination. 

Feeling ready to get out there and start practicing your edgecraft? If so, there’s good news and bad news. Let’s start with the good news: By the end of the day, you could probably come up with a dozen fantastic ideas for edges you could integrate into your product, service, or business. 

But here’s the bad news: coming up with an idea for an edge is the easy part. Making it a reality is where the real challenge lies. However, the problem that makes it so challenging isn’t what you might expect. 

It would be great if your colleagues popped open a bottle of champagne and toasted your new idea the moment you announced it. But as we’ve seen, they’re probably going to be resistant to your idea when they first hear about it. 

To break through that resistance, you’ll need to gain leverage from your organization by building a fulcrum. That means finding a pressure point where you can effectively position your idea and use it to lever your organization over to your side. In the abstract, this sounds vague and complicated, but in practice, it’s actually pretty simple and clear-cut. It’s just a matter of answering a few basic questions about your idea. First question: Will it work? 

At this point, you’ve overcome your colleagues’ skepticism about whether your idea can be implemented. But that still leaves them wondering about the next question you need to answer: assuming this can be done, is it worth doing in the first place? 

The key message here is: You also need to convince your colleagues that your idea is worth pursuing.

Now that you’ve convinced your colleagues that your idea is a winner, there’s just one last thing you need to sell them on: yourself. After all, you’re the one spearheading the initiative. Maybe it’s the most workable and worthwhile innovation since sliced bread – but unless you have the leadership skills to guide your team and turn it into a reality, your idea will just be that: a thing that exists only in your head. 

The key message here is: Before you pitch your idea, make sure you’ve built up your reputation as a leader.