If you think back to Eli and Ingrid in the Scenario: Spot the frustrations, they both experienced frustrations that have the potential to be opportunities. They weren’t actively looking for them, they were just living their lives and came across them accidentally. But what if Eli and Ingrid decided they wanted to start a business, or they were passionate about innovation and they wanted to create something new? If they hadn’t found an opportunity already, they’d have to look for one. This requires purposeful action and is a very different approach from accidentally discovering an opportunity.
Happy accidents and obvious opportunities
Some opportunities are immediately obvious to almost anyone, despite their context and competitive advantage. For example, in the early 2000s with the dawn of the internet it was almost an objective fact that this would create innumerable opportunities for innovation. People who were ready and waiting with an opportunity mindset and the desire to create something new were perfectly positioned to be innovative. These happy accidents are contingent on who you are, who you know, what you know, what you think you can do, and what you have access to.
95 million cans of Play-Doh are now sold each year.
ExamplePlay-Doh
Play-Doh is an example of a happy accident where people unintentionally found an amazing opportunity. Play-Doh was originally marketed and intended to be used as wallpaper cleaner to help pick up small amounts of dirt. In the 1950’s it was found that teachers were giving children in schools this substance as it was not toxic and child-friendly. Today, Play-Doh is a product of Hasbro, which produces the famous coloured putty used by children around the world for imaginative and easy-to-build creations.
Purposeful identification
If you’re actively looking for an opportunity to innovate, there are tools that you can use to help you with this identification process. Next, we’ll give you six tools you can use to identify opportunities and examples of how they’ve been used by others.
There is no right or wrong tool to use. The effectiveness of these tools depends on your perspective and circumstances. The likelihood of using each of these tools may depend on your personal preferences too. For instance, if you are a highly extroverted and social person, then you may already be in touch with many people you can observe or interview about frustrations they are experiencing. In comparison, a more introverted or private person might be more inclined to discover opportunities through self-reflection, research or reading. Regardless of your personal disposition, all of these tools can be learned and developed through experience and therefore allow you to become better at identifying opportunities.
