Most organisations don't have an innovation problem. They have a cognitive fixedness problem.
Innovation rarely appears out of nowhere. It gets blocked. By assumptions treated as facts, by expertise that has calcified into certainty, and by the very mental shortcuts that make organisations efficient.
Unlocking it requires understanding what's actually in the way.
Let's talk →True innovation begins with understanding the forces shaping a problem: human behaviour, market dynamics, data, technological possibilities, and societal change. By examining these elements closely, opportunities emerge that others overlook.
But most organisations don't get there. They focus on the novelty of an idea rather than the context in which people will actually use it. Solutions get designed around assumptions rather than real needs. And when the idea fails to take hold, nobody can explain why.
The popular directive to "think outside the box" misses the point entirely. Innovation is less about escaping the box and more about understanding the system that created it in the first place.
Opinions are one of the primary blockers of innovation. People conflate expertise with truth, which prevents them from genuinely understanding situations and opportunities. This isn't arrogance so much as cognitive fixedness: the same mental shortcuts that help us navigate daily life safely can lock us into seeing problems the same way, every time.
"Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things."Theodore Levitt
Help teams understand what blocks innovation
Before you can generate better ideas, you need to see the assumptions that are preventing them. I work with teams to surface cognitive fixedness, challenge opinions that have hardened into facts, and create the conditions where genuinely new thinking becomes possible.
Use JTBD to unlock the real opportunity
Jobs-to-be-Done methodology reorients innovation around what people are actually trying to achieve. Not what you think they want. Not what they say they want. What they are genuinely trying to get done. When innovation is grounded in that understanding, adoption follows.
Apply disruptive strategy frameworks
Drawing on Clayton Christensen's disruptive innovation theory, I help organisations understand the landscape they're operating in: where disruption is coming from, where there are underserved jobs to be done, and how to position for growth rather than defend against decline.
Speak and facilitate
I speak on innovation, cognitive fixedness, and Jobs-to-be-Done for leadership teams, commercial functions, and industry events. Sessions are practical and grounded in real examples, not theory for its own sake.
My approach to innovation is grounded in both practice and rigorous frameworks. I hold a certificate in Design Thinking and Innovation from Harvard Business School Online, covering empathy-led research, ideation methodology, cognitive fixedness, and the application of design thinking to complex business problems.
Combined with 20 years of experience applying these principles in B2B technology, digital services, and ecosystem environments, the result is an approach that is intellectually serious and practically useful.
- Leadership teams that suspect internal assumptions are limiting their strategic options
- Commercial and product teams that need to reorient around what customers actually value
- Organisations navigating disruption and needing a clearer framework for responding
- Conference organisers and leadership events looking for a practitioner speaker on innovation and JTBD
If your team is solving problems confidently but not arriving at the right answers, let's talk.
Let's talk →