Nestle-Purina prides itself as the leader in Pet Foods, is repeatedly voted a best place to work, and is known for high-quality products. Since it is a very competitive marketplace, they’re always looking for innovative insights that can be translated into a marketing advantage. That’s exactly what happened when we brought together their entire marketing team of 180 employees to take a deep dive to look for new insights. Participants learned the methodology to disrupt their usual thought processes and found consensus amongst their best ideas, enabling the Chief Marketing Officer to make the announcement (quoted above) at the end of the 1.5-hour session.

Matt reported his company’s bottom line had improved 20 percent in the year following the Ideation session. One of his junior managers was able to capture an insight that changed both their product line and their business philosophy. Meanwhile, his competition’s profits were down 20 to 40 percent.

Disrupting conventional processes is necessary every so often. Big, transformative ideas don’t come only from senior management. In fact, data suggests its opposite. Research looking at innovators over a 400-year period showed consistent results: the most prolific innovations happened when the innovator was in his or her 20s.

The National Association of Realtors ® (NAR) is America’s largest trade association. This group represents over 1 million members, covering all aspects of residential and commercial real estate. Their problem? How to stay connected and communicate both effectively and efficiently with such a large membership base. For professionals no longer in their twenties, right-brain thinking evens the playing field. One idea particularly resonated with everybody. Senior management was pleased to learn about this potentially game-changing idea—as well as three other important insights that the symposium surfaced.