People still cling to this belief that innovation is just random and unpredictable. But if you look closely, there are some real patterns. The companies that recognize and take advantage of those patterns have the real opportunity to create competitive advantage.

Innovation simply isn't as unpredictable as many people think. There isn't a cookbook yet, but we're getting there.

An innovation will get traction only if it helps people get something that they're already doing in their lives done better.

Doing deals doesn't yield the deep rewards that come from building up people.

The biggest mistake is an over-reliance on data. Managers will say if there are no data they can take no action. However, data only exist about the past. By the time data become conclusive, it is too late to take actions based on those conclusions.

When a technology, regardless of how different and difficult it is, sustains the trajectory of performance improvement, my research asserts that the leaders in the prior generation of technology are likely to end up on top of their industry at the end of the transition.

It is a company's customers who effectively control what it can and cannot do.