#10 Innovation by Design Series (5/6): Embracing the Absurd—The Hidden Path to Breakthrough Innovation

Unlock the power of big, bold, and seemingly absurd ideas to create breakthrough innovation.

If It Doesn’t Sound Crazy, You’re Probably Too Late

Imagine someone made this pitch to you 10 years ago:

“We want to make a hamburger… out of peas and soy.”

“We want to sell a phone… with no buttons.”

“We want to build a taxi company… with no cars.”

Ideas like these don’t just bend the rules—they rewrite them.

And at first, they sound ridiculous. But that’s exactly why they work.

In this post, we’ll explore why absurd ideas are often the seeds of breakthrough innovation, and why thinking beyond just “products” opens entirely new revenue streams and business models.

11. Appreciation of the Value of Absurdity

Breakthrough innovation often starts with an idea that sounds crazy at first.

12. Thinking Beyond the Product

Innovate not just what you deliver, but how you deliver and monetize it.

11. Appreciation of the Value of Absurdity

Albert Einstein once said:

“If at first, an idea doesn’t seem absurd, there’s no hope for it.”

"Absurdity isn’t the enemy of innovation—it’s the beginning of it."

Organizations that dismiss absurd ideas too early often miss game-changing opportunities. Why?

Because:

·       They can’t see past current limitations.

·       They judge feasibility too early.

·       They’re trapped by what’s “realistic.”

But innovators don’t ask “Is this possible today?” They ask,

“What would have to be true to make this possible tomorrow?”

Sometimes absurd ideas are just ahead of their time—and the real opportunity lies in exploring how to make them real. Before you kill an idea, give it the S.N.I.F.F. test (Innovation by Design series post 3/6) then ask yourself what if it actually could be done.

📌 Ask Yourself:

Do you encourage your teams to explore the absurd? Or do you shoot down wild ideas before they’re even sketched out?

12. Thinking Beyond the Product

Innovation isn’t just about creating something new—it’s about creating value in new ways. That means thinking bigger than the product itself.

There are two big ideas here:

a) Platform Thinking

Don’t stop with one product, on service, one solution. Think about how that first idea can evolve into a family of solutions—a scalable platform.

📍 Example: The iPod became the iPhone became the App Store ecosystem.

b) Business Model Innovation

A great product launched through an outdated business model often fails.

But an average product with the right model? That’s disruption.

📍 Example: Netflix didn’t just offer digital content—they revolutionized how we consume it.

📌 Ask Yourself:

Are you only innovating the “what”… or also the “how”?

Could your next breakthrough be a business model, not a product?

Score Yourself

Add these two final mindset-based factors to your scorecard:

Subtotal for Post 5: _____ / 10

Running Total (Posts 1–5): _____ / 60

If you want to explore more about how to stimulate breakthrough thinking, or more about Platform Innovation or Business Model Innovation, contact us or subscribe below.

Coming Next:

 Blog Post 6 – From Launch to Learn: Executing Innovation Like a Pro

In our final post, we’ll cover how real innovators don’t just “fail fast”—they learn fast. You’ll discover how to build a flexible execution process that turns every launch into a learning loop.