Don't scare your users/customers with your Innovation

If you believe the mass perception there is a huge need for Innovation.  Almost all companies say they want to be innovative and they support innovation in their company.

But, there is a dark side to innovation.  Innovation means change, and change means you need to adapt.  Adapting means you may not be as good at the new way as the old way.  so, maybe it is best to just keep your old habits, and new thing will be a fad and go away.  Yeh.  I'll put my head in the sand.  :-)

HBR has a blog post on making innovative ideas less terrifying.

Rarely have I had that kind of immediate trust and social currency when proposing something new.  More often, I’ve experienced the opposite reaction:  what I consider genius ideas have been greeted with blank faces, disapproving stares, and occasionally the outright smackdown.

New ideas tend to evoke fear and anger – we are programmed to prefer the comfort and safety of established norms. Much as I want to believe that a glaringly good idea will stand on its merits, I have come to realize that just like any product or service, ideas require good marketing if they’re going to reach their intended customers.

Huh,  I think what I need to try is pitch a new idea as "safe innovation"  Proven risk free change.

According to the research on successful entrepreneurs, their single most important trait is the ability to persuade.  Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur, unless your boss is as comfortable with disruption as Clay Christensen is, your ability to persuade is tightly linked to your ability to assuage fear. To get buy-in for any new idea, whether your customer is your manager, your direct reports, your teenage son, the CEO, de-risking is essential.  The ability to jump to a new vision or product or job almost always requires that those around us, our fellow stakeholders, also leap to a new curve of learning. If you’re looking for a break for your breakthrough ideas, prepare to skydive:  pack a parachute for you and your colleagues.