Opportunities are everywhere. How to grok them.

A creative person observes people in action, listens to the challenges they face and can make inferences about their unmet needs. These, in turn, inspire them to develop new ideas to solve those “pain points.”

Creativity experts call this cultivating an “insight outlook” — being keenly aware of everything around you, with an eye toward “How can I use this?” The creative person knows that nearly anything they encounter in the course of daily life can be fodder for creative solutions.

Watching what people struggle with when using products is often an excellent source of creative inspiration. Corporate innovation practitioners call this “ethnography” — observing how customers use their products. What works well? What doesn’t? Where do they get stuck? Where do they need help?

An example: After Maytag launched its revolutionary Neptune line of front-loading washers and dryers, one of its product managers was visiting a customer. When she entered the laundry room, she was surprised to see that the homeowner had propped up both appliances on crates, raising them several feet off the floor. The product manager asked the woman why she did this. The homeowner explained that she had lower back problems, and it was too hard for her to bend over to load and unload her washer and dryer.