Ask Your Team These 7 Questions to Jumpstart Innovation
Growth companies that break through competitive barriers ask impossible questions that force teams beyond conventional thinking patterns.
After scaling my software development company to the Inc. 5000 list five consecutive years and coaching dozens of leadership teams on strategy and innovation, I’ve learned that competitive advantage comes from asking different questions, not finding better answers to the same old problems.
The breakthrough moments happen when teams stop thinking within normal business constraints and start exploring impossible scenarios. This constraint-breaking approach consistently generates innovative solutions that competitors can’t replicate because they remain trapped in conventional thinking patterns.
1. If money was no object, how would we approach this?
When teams operate under budget constraints, they automatically filter out ideas before exploring their potential. This question forces separation of resource allocation from strategic thinking, revealing what your team actually believes would work best. Give your team five minutes to brainstorm without budget considerations, and you’ll notice ideas become immediately more ambitious and creative. A client’s marketing team used this prompt and proposed creating an industry conference, which led to a scaled-down summit that generated more qualified leads than three years of traditional marketing.
2. If we had to solve this and launch tomorrow, what would we strip away?
Nothing kills innovation faster than endless refinement cycles. This constraint forces teams to identify the absolute core of their solution, revealing essential elements versus nice-to-have features that complicate execution. Set a literal timer and give teams ten minutes to design something implementable within 24 hours. One CEO used this when his team debated features for a new service. The constraint forced identification of three core capabilities delivering 80 percent of value, allowing them to launch quickly and gather real customer feedback.
3. If we had access to the most brilliant mind in the world on this topic, how would they solve it?
Every organization develops blind spots based on industry experience and internal capabilities. This question breaks teams out of knowledge constraints and encourages borrowing insights from adjacent industries or academic research. Have team members research how experts in completely different fields approach similar challenges. A manufacturing client researched quality assurance methods from aerospace, pharmaceutical, and software industries, leading to statistical process controls that reduced defects by 60 percent.
4. If we never had to make money, how would we approach this?
Profit requirements often constrain innovation because teams filter ideas based on immediate revenue potential rather than long-term value creation. This question reveals what your team believes would create the most genuine value for customers. A software company used this approach for customer onboarding and designed an intensive training program. While they couldn’t implement the full version, the insight led to a hybrid model that improved customer retention by 40 percent.
5. If we had to 10x this company within three years, how would we do it?
Most teams think incrementally about growth because they’re trapped by current capabilities and market position. This question forces consideration of fundamental business model changes rather than optimization improvements. 10x growth can’t happen through efficiency gains—it requires entirely different approaches. A consulting firm used this exercise and realized massive growth required shifting from custom services to scalable training products, leading to certification programs that now generate 40 percent of revenue.
6. If we could read anyone’s mind, what would we want to know to solve this problem?
Innovation often fails because teams operate with incomplete information about customer needs, competitive strategies, or market dynamics. This question reveals which information gaps actually constrain decision-making. Use this prompt to prioritize research and data gathering efforts. A product development team realized they were guessing about customer feature preferences, leading to systematic feedback collection that fundamentally changed development priorities.
7. If we could break any regulation or law, what solution emerges?
Industry regulations often prevent teams from considering the most direct solutions to customer problems. This question helps identify which constraints are protective versus traditional barriers to innovation. A financial services client used this exercise when designing advisory services, envisioning AI-powered personalized advice. While they couldn’t replace human advisors, this insight led to AI-assisted tools that improved advisor effectiveness while maintaining regulatory compliance.
Action Items
Teams that master constraint-breaking prompts consistently generate breakthrough solutions while competitors remain trapped in conventional thinking patterns. The competitive advantage comes from asking fundamentally different questions that reveal possibilities others never consider.
