This book so well addresses what I found to be the hardest obstacle to innovation: a culture and an environment that does not support change.
In her book, Creative Change, Jennifer Mueller describes a common paradox around innovation. On one hand, organizations acknowledge the complexity of the challenges they have to solve and that creativity is needed more than ever; on the other hand, while organizations can and do generate new ideas, they rarely are implemented because of the resistance to actually embracing the changes that the execution of the ideas will bring. Her premise is that “our ability to generate creative ideas far outpaces our ability to truly embrace them” (p.xi) .
Dr. Mueller’s recommendation is to create awareness at the individual, leadership and organizational level about the biases that exist when considering new ideas. She describes how the “how/best” mindset, which is the most frequently used mindset in organizations, focuses on evaluation and data but that it is critical to also consider the “why/potential” mindset where one consider why the ideas may have potential and consider possibilities for making it possible to implement.This ultimately becomes a better way to “manage uncertainty” (p.209) by transforming the culture and leadership approaches.
This is a reading I would definitely recommend to all those working in the innovation space whether it is for a for-profit organizations, a non-profit or academia-focused organizations trying to create meaningful changes.