Yes, it’s another book about innovation. But in an interesting twist, business consultant and Stanford management professor Behnam Tabrizi begins “Going on Offense” not with how innovation happens but rather why it often doesn’t:
First, bureaucratic companies must contend with the legacy of the twentieth-century definition of success. Back then, they were rewarded for making quality goods at scale at an affordable price. They quite understandably hired bureaucrats to fulfill this goal. Innovation fell victim to predictable marketing and incremental improvements, both of which produced the steady growth that management and Wall Street craved. Companies jettisoned agility in favor of a massive, complex structure that, like an ocean liner, can’t turn on a dime.
Besides the inertia of size and complexity, human nature is the main obstacle to change. First off, people are conditioned to give away their own power. From being entirely dependent as infants, to partially dependent as we grow into adulthood, we are tempted to continue that pattern. We often abdicate our own thinking to the books we read and the lectures we hear; we leave the dictates of morality to religious leaders and our diet to doctors. Essentially, we’re too afraid to think for ourselves. In the workplace, we’re comfortable ceding our power to the bureaucratic hierarchy so we can settle into a predictable, stable set of routines and tasks.
Second, it is human nature to be self-interested and proud. Most managers in large companies have a touch of that, making them embrace command and control, and care about maintaining their fiefdoms and perquisites.
Third, people tend to commit themselves and resist change when they have invested significant resources in a project or strategic direction. They persist in the sunk cost fallacy even if abandoning that course of action makes long-term financial sense.
Finally, the sort of change that can break through the inertia of tradition takes tremendous resolve. Agility and innovation require a kind of alertness and flexibility that demands enormous mental and physical effort. It’s exhausting just talking about it. And it definitely requires more energy than most people want to devote to their work.
