When was the last time you had a focus group?

Steve Jobs famously insisted on starting with the customer and working backwards from there to your product. True innovation isn’t about what you think is great—it’s about what they actually want.

Years ago, when I was building out a content studio at a beauty brand, I had one of the most eye-opening experiences of my career. After weeks of pouring over data and having internal debates, the marketing team decided to host a focus group to gather real, unfiltered feedback—on everything from product efficacy to visual identity, upcoming launches, and competitor positioning.

For two to three hours, I sat and watched as eight people from wildly different backgrounds did something that algorithms, reports, and internal brainstorms never could. They gave us raw, unvarnished (sometimes painful) truth. Their insights completely changed the way we were going to roll out a key product and shaped some of our content strategy in ways we hadn’t considered.

It sounds obvious in hindsight, but somehow the idea to engage in a focus group exercise hadn’t occurred to me (or my colleagues) in the past. If I had to guess, we probably felt better about ourselves thinking we had all the answers.

Of course focus groups are commonplace at some companies. But in case you hadn’t tried it..and if you’re feeling stuck—on anything—maybe it’s time to stop guessing and start listening. Put together a focus group. You might just get the breakthrough you’ve been waiting for.