Surviving the Ills of Design Fever - Product Design Strategy

Business week had a really great frank article about design that impressed me. The title of the article is "Surviving the Ills of Design Fever". It delivers five practical steps to focusing on sub-par design. The best on in my opinion is the first one:

"Step 1: Say no to "me-too" briefs:
If the client asks for the next iPod, your answer should be, "Are you the next Steve Jobs?" Original thought is what defines Apple and what every company needs. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, every other booth showed a different take on the popular MP3 player -- none of which brought any significant innovation to the market. Original thought and unique strategy was completely and obviously absent from those me-too products. "

The article also suggests focusing on culture, which I think is an under appreciated aspect to the design process.