Today's marketplace is a consumer-controlled, hyper-competitive, global arena recovering from one of the worst financial crisis in history. AIG, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Gobal Crossing, banks, mortgage companies, General Motors, and Chrysler have created a global climate of consumer cynicism and suspicion that has driven consumer trust in business to an all time low.

In addition to credibility and trust issues, marketers face a consumer-dominated world of fractionalized media, and the exponential growth of "social media" that is rapidly erroding company control of marketing messages and threatening the very core of innovation by forcing companies to dedicate resources "reacting" and "chasing the chatter" of consumers that only know what they want AFTER it exists. Starbucks, iPods, iPhones, Krispy Kreme doghnuts, YouTube, eBay, and chunky spaghetti sauce are just a few examples of what consumers didn't know they wanted until they existed.

As companies dedicate the resources and attention necessary to "listen and react" to the ever shifting consumer "chatter-scape," they run the risk of perpetuating a listen and react "mentality" that is the sworn enemy of "innovation" or daring to build what the company believes consumers WILL want BEFORE the consumers want it.