...companies go about listening to customers all wrong - so wrong, in fact, that they undermine innovation.... Customers should not be trusted to come up with solutions; they aren't expert or informed enough for that part of the innovation process. That's what your R&D team is for. Rather, customers should be asked only for outcomes - that is, what they want a new product or service to do for them. Maybe they want to feel a closer bond to people when talking on the phone or to spend less time traveling to and from the grocery store. What form the solutions take should be up to you, and you alone.... a company must admit to itself that it is not entirely customer-driven. It is informed by customer input, yes, but it must also accept the heavy responsibility for coming up with new products and services on its own.
Customers only know what they have experienced. They cannot imagine what they don't know about emergent technologies, new materials, and the like. What customer, for example, would have asked for the microwave oven, Velcro, or Post-It Notes? At the time the transistor was being developed, radio and television manufacturers were still requesting improved vacuum tubes.