# How Innovation Happens — Lesson #17: Ask the Tough Questions
By 

## Article Content
I've been covering the link between future trends and innovation strategies for 30+ years. I went back through my blog posts, stretching to 2002, to dig out the nuggets of innovation insight I've discovered along the way. This series revisits those stories, tests what still holds up, and turns them into practical lessons for what comes next. I've come back to this idea repeatedly in my work because the mindset behind innovation usually changes before the results do. What people notice, question, challenge, and act on determines how ready they are for what comes next. Innovators are not afraid to ask tough questions. More importantly, they are willing to act on the answers. That second part is where most organizations stumble. They commission research, run off-sites and invite provocative speakers. Then the uncomfortable finding gets softened on the way back into the operating plan. A tough question is useful only if the answer is allowed to change something. The questions that matter most are usually the ones people hesitate to ask: What are we pretending not to know? Which product would we kill if we did not already own it? Where are customers tolerating us rather than loving us? Which capability are we losing? So what does that mean in practice? It means challenging the assumption, habit, or hesitation that is keeping you anchored to the present. Here are three places to start. Action Items: Ask one question at your next meeting that everyone normally avoids. Assign an owner to investigate the answer. Track whether the answer actually changes a decision. Explore the full How Innovation Happens series.

---
Source: https://jimcarroll.com/2026/10/how-innovation-happens-lesson-017/