“Developing a washing machine solution for China” was my first and biggest assignment as a freshman innovation manager. I had a team of 15 people from across the company and we were highly confident of our plan’s success which was simply focusing on customer insights, which was the buzz of the time. An insight, as we were all taught, is a unique yet “hidden” need that when resolved the customer would reward the company by acquiring the solution. However, we realized that an insight was a need statement that you can act upon which should have a social or cultural root and that could only be captured after a certain time of interaction and sharing with a positive mood without judgement.

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