Anger Drives Innovation
an entertaining and typically forthright argument in favor of anger and its power to drive innovation
… here in a podcast of IT Conversations with Jeff Bonforte (get the mp3).
[…] Bonforte presents his belief that anger is the most untapped emotion when it comes to start-ups and innovation. Anger doesn’t appear on many business plans and he feels this is a great shame because it’s the most important emotion when looking to create a new product or service. The reason is straightforward: angry people approach a problem with more heightened feelings. They can then equate a solution to the problem with relief. If the answer leads to the end of anger, it’s likely to be a winner in business terms.
This is why most dorks and nerds fail to launch start-ups that last. The technology is good and the applications can be fun but they approach a problem the wrong way: to a nerd, a problem is fun. It just doesn’t make them angry enough.
Product managers worrying about adoption curves for their new application should stop concentrating on features and look to the emotions and the experiences of their customers. Consumers change behaviour through anger. Skype, for instance, tapped into a general feeling in the market of “I’m angry at my telco”.
