Business leaders have been urged to forget focus groups and follow their instincts.

Broadcaster and journalist Andrew Neil said in Kent that mobile phones, Post-it notes, Sky television, the fax machine and CNN would never have happened if focus groups had been heeded.

All these innovations were predicted to fail by focus groups and experts alike.

Focus groups only told you that they wanted more of the same but done better. Following focus groups would lead only to incremental change.

"Incrementalism is the enemy of innovation," Mr Neil told delegates at the Kent 2020 Vision show at Detling County Showground.

"The first requirement of business leadership is to have the courage and foresight to know that the customer is not always right.

"Good business leaders follow their instincts and not what the focus groups say. If you only listen to your customers, you will only ever proceed by incremental change.

"Quite often, customers do not know what they want until you give it to them. Real innovation, the product of bold leadership in business, comes from being one step ahead of our customers, not rushing to catch up with them."

Bosses should not be "boxed in by conventional leadership or the tyranny of focus groups."

Mr Neil added that communications was the essential requirement in a business leader.

A recent survey found that bosses rated it only the eighth most important quality, while their staff ranked it top.

"In today's information age, most workers are brainworkers. You cannot boss around brainworkers. An educated workforce expects its bosses to be able to communicate and for the communication to be two-way."

Integrity, ethics and honesty were also important qualities, Mr Neil said.

Business leaders should hire people who compensated for their weaknesses, not mirrored their strengths.

And any boss who had trouble attracting talented people, "it's probably because your company sucks."