INNOVATION
Great Innovators Ask for Forgiveness Not Permission
True innovation is grounded in rule-breaking not conformance
True innovation is about breaking things. Breaking rules. Embracing failure. All of which are part of the creative process.
Creativity is about doing something different. The unspoken rule is that there are no rules. Innovation is only possible when you bend, break, or ignore rules.
Innovation involves breaking or at least bending rules.
This excludes dishonest or unethical rule-breaking, rather purposeful rule-breaking, necessary to get ideas in motion — designed, built, and tested.
This article will discuss innovation, rules, leadership, and culture.
The Rule Block
Rules can get in the way of experimentation, radical, or revolutionary improvement that underpins breakthrough innovation.
Some managers enforce rules, thinking that it’s their job to get others to conform, to obey, to follow instructions without question. Managers lay down the law, they keep an eye on those who step outside the rules and then punish them if they do step out of line.
This is a flaw where innovation is concerned. The problem is that fear arrests employees trying to do things differently, the core of true innovation.
Talented people can experience dissatisfaction, depression even, by doing what makes no sense to them. Rules slow performance. Rules make innovation impossible.
The innovative leader
Rule-breaking allows employees to avoid the mind-numbing constraints of rules. A project can gain from the benefit that this ethos brings.
Turning a blind eye from time to time is a sign of an innovative leader. It means that managers can avoid challenging free-spirit innovators who challenge rules. The fact is that rules will not change in the short term to help future projects until a successful project is delivered
Challenging rules during the innovation process can be costly. It takes time and effort to argue for change without proof. The time you don’t have to spare.
Sanctions against rule-breakers pose a risk that can delay or derail a project. They attract attention too. This means that others are monitoring closely, so you have to follow rules, to the detriment to your team.
Before you prove a concept you risk being labeled as a troublemaker as opposed to an innovative leader.
Many rules are unhelpful constraints anchored in the past.
Companies don't learn unless rules are challenged. But timing is important. Proof of concept is even more important. It’s a validation.
The innovative culture
An innovative culture doesn't have to break rules because policy makes it easy to challenge and redefine rules. They simplify the process when worthwhile concerns are raised.
Innovative leaders encourage rule modifications as part of the creative process. In some instances you don’t have to ask for permission to change something, they just ask how and do.
Openness is rare in the business world and rules are given more weight than they deserve.
Innovative companies accept that rules bring limits.
Rule modification is grounded in trust. Innovative leaders are confident that discoveries lead to better, faster, more intelligent, and bold ways of doing things. They trust that their team delivers with honest intent.
The rule-breaker
Some people can’t help themselves from breaking rules. They're driven by an inquisitive mind. They’re natural rule-breakers.
The curiosity of the innovative hacker cannot be caged.
They break convention to invent. They ignore etiquette and defy best practices. They follow their own rules, committed to breaking traditional rules to discover a better way.
Final Thoughts
Great innovators weigh up the risks of breaking rules and decide whether or not they’re willing to pay the price.
More often than not, they do it anyway.
Knowing why a rule exists is helpful, but that doesn’t mean its right. Innovators are clever. They find ways to break rules that are likely to be deemed acceptable or even praiseworthy.
Innovators stick their necks out. They’re courageous new-world seekers driven by creative destruction.
To conclude, below are five takeaways for innovation leaders:
- Hire team members who are natural rule breakers.
- Promote people who are comfortable working independently in a rule-abiding organization.
- Reward and empower those who despise bureaucracy and politics because they slow them down.
- Involve motivated rule-breakers in the innovation process.
- Find and work with those who think differently.
Some rules outlive their sell-by date, their usefulness. Some were never useful in the first place. Many are not appropriate for innovation.
Innovative leaders know the difference. Innovative companies empower their people to judge, redefine, or ignore rules.
Breaking rules should no longer be frowned upon.
Rule-breaking is necessary.
