I had a teacher in business school who was fierce, intimidating, and a sweetheart. Ian McMillan was a wiry South African with a quick wit and a quick temper. He taught a class entitled “Entrepreneurship.” Our weekly assignment was to find and describe a business opportunity that came from our own experience. We had to spot a need that could be met by forming a business. In one page we were to describe the need, how our business idea would meet this need, and the general business proposition.

I think we all received C’s or D’s on the first week’s assignments. Professor McMillan handed them back and said they were complete trash. He said we weren’t really looking for needs, for real problems, and that our business ideas stunk. He announced that we needed to be obsessed with seeking out needs and with finding solutions and that we needed to offer proof that our idea had the potential to become a viable business. Week after week this assignment continued. By the fourth and fifth week of the semester there were a few B’s, and by the twelfth week the grades were primarily A’s and B’s.

Having this assignment each week forced me to look everywhere for needs. I was indeed obsessed, looking at the world in a different way. Wherever I was — while riding on the subway, in my home, or taking the elevator to class — I was always looking at what was needed and thinking about how these needs could be met through a business. I began to see needs everywhere. On the subway there was a need for better maps of the subway system, a need for a place to store wet umbrellas, a need for a system of letting people on and off the trains. While caring for my infant son I thought about the need for more information about child rearing, about better car seats, and things that were needed to help him get a good night’s sleep.

I started my former business Brush Dance with the intention of meeting people’s need to help the environment by using recycled paper products. At that time it was nearly impossible to find products made from recycled materials. It soon became apparent that we were inadvertently meeting another need — the need for sending cards that combined meaningful words and unique artwork. No one was making cards that had quotes on the front, and few cards had much depth.

Businesses exist to meet the needs of people. The larger and more complex and technologically driven business becomes, the easier it is to lose sight of this simple truth. This truth seems so old fashioned in our complex society, but if we look closely, the model remains the same — businesses provide goods and services to meet the needs of people.

Questions :
What needs does your work or business meet?
How are these needs changing?
What needs do you see as unfulfilled in your work environment?
What needs do you see in your life as unfulfilled? How could business meet these needs?