Our colleagues over at ERE have a interesting post by Dr. John Sullivan on Identifying Innovation Killers — and the ‘Top 25 “That Will Never Work” Excuses. It’s worth taking a look at.
There are innovation killers in your group.
You might not notice them because you have over the years grown tolerant of them, but an outsider or an innovator could spot them in a minute. I call innovation killers “that will never work” people because the minute someone comes up with a new idea, these individuals are first to offer up reasons why the new idea “will never work.”
A better label for these types of people is “innovation killer,” because they put a damper on important risk-taking and innovation. They may be the most dangerous people in your group, possibly more dangerous than that dreadful underperformer everyone knows exists but is too lazy to do anything about.
Tolerating their presence may be costing you millions in lost innovation, so I suggest you develop a plan to limit their damaging behavior.”
For more of this article, including why you must silence “innovation killers,” click here.
