One of the best ways to make and keep your company innovative is to have people invent solutions to their own problems or needs. In other words, be your own customer and satisfy yourself. If that is not possible—if you are in a business where you cannot be your own customer—then figure out a way to experience the world as a customer experiences it.

One approach is to solve the specific problem or fill the specific need of an individual customer—not an individual customer group, but a single, solitary individual customer. The idea here is the same as above: if you invent a solution to the problem of a single customer, chances are there are other potential customers hidden in the woodwork that would also be interested in the innovation.

You’re somebody’s customer, too—so talk to whoever is doing work for you. Show up with something of value or a pertinent question. Try to understand what their roadblocks are and what they’re excited about.

And talk to the people who are closest to the customer, like marketing and support—find teams who communicate with customers day in and day out and hear their feedback directly.

Come curious. And come genuinely interested. When you’re looking up and around, you’re not on a self-serving mission to understand if your company will fail and how quickly you should cut and run. You’re trying to understand how to do your job better. You’re getting ideas of how to help your project and your company’s mission succeed. You’re starting to think like your manager or leader, which is the first step to becoming a manager or leader.

Think of all the resources you devote to hiring good employees: interviews; background checks; references; tests for ability, motivation, and cultural fit. Now think of the energy you spend on "hiring" the right customers. In most companies, there's no comparison, even though customer behavior can have just as much of an operational impact as employee behavior. Customers can play a defining role in your ability to deliver great service at a sustainable cost. And the greater your expectations for your customer-operators, the more time you need to devote to choosing the right people for the job.

Think of all the resources you devote to hiring good employees: interviews; background checks; references; tests for ability, motivation, and cultural fit. Now think of the energy you spend on "hiring" the right customers. In most companies, there's no comparison, even though customer behavior can have just as much of an operational impact as employee behavior. Customers can play a defining role in your ability to deliver great service at a sustainable cost. And the greater your expectations for your customer-operators, the more time you need to devote to choosing the right people for the job.