I was leading an innovation workshop recently with a company that invited some of its customers to talk about the future. We were interested in getting feedback from key B2B customers about the future of the industry, where things were heading, and what strategies and programs my customer should begin to put in place. I was hired to lead a trend-spotting and scenario-planning workshop, but I had successfully convinced my client that we needed to establish a common framework and language about innovation first.

The participants were senior executives drawn from several industries the company serves. They all were leaders in their respective industries, and several of them promote innovation as a core operating capability. Nevertheless I felt it was important to establish a common definition and scope of innovation before moving ahead. What surprised me was the response from the participants.

 …