Hello Innovator!

We all know that people tend to fear change. Even the most innovative amongst us have that little voice in the back of our heads that questions what impact a new idea, a new initiative, or new innovation might have on our role or our company. It’s not wrong; it’s simply human nature and a tendency toward self-preservation.

But these emotional responses are exactly what causes innovative new ideas to encounter resistance. Understanding them ahead of time, and planning for how to manage them, can help you overcome them. This week, we’ll show you how.

Here’s what you’ll find:

• This Week’s Article: The 7 Deadly Sins of Innovative Ideas

• Share This: The 7 Deadly Sins of Innovative Ideas as Inspired by Hieronymus Bosch

The 7 Deadly Sins of Innovative Ideas

Why Good Ideas Get Rejected

The more ambitious the idea, the harder it is to get anyone to try it.

Not because it’s wrong. Because it’s unknown.

No matter how promising the upside, change always feels riskier than staying put. It threatens comfort, control, and identity. So people push back. Quietly. Subtly. And often, without even consciously realizing why.

But you’ll rarely hear “no” outright. Instead, they’ll say:

“We tried that already.”
“It’s not in the plan.”
“Customers aren’t asking for it.”

It sounds like rational feedback at face value. But these phrases are placeholders. They’re nice ways of saying “no” that are actually signals of discomfort, dressed in the language of strategy.

The Emotional Paradox

This emotional response creates a paradox…
The greater the potential of an idea, the more resistance it triggers.

People don’t reject ideas because they’re bad.
Ideas are rejected because they make people feel. 
Exposed. Or replaceable. Or wrong.

And the more emotionally invested someone is in how things currently work, the harder it is for them to even consider a better way. They’re not protecting the business. They’re protecting themselves.

But emotional resistance doesn’t always sound like opposition. It might sound like caution. Or delay. Or a request for more data. Or a quiet nudge to get someone else’s sign-off.

What you’re seeing is emotion disguised in process.
And often, that’s what kills innovation.
Emotion, not logic.

You won’t overcome emotions with more data. Logic has no place here, however much we want to believe in our own pragmatism. Instead, you have to anticipate the emotional responses and prepare for them.

The list that follows maps the emotional patterns that quietly decide what gets built and what gets buried.

Think of them as the 7 Deadly Sins of innovative ideas.

And much like their biblically sourced brethren, they’re not necessarily conscientious objections. They can lurk under the surface, rearing their heads when we least expect them.

Ego: “I can’t accept this because I didn’t think of it.”

Ideas rarely trigger resistance. It's who gets credited for those ideas that makes things messy. Some people would rather see a good idea fail than let someone else get recognition.

If someone builds their influence on being the smartest person in the room, a good idea from another party doesn’t feel like progress. It feels like a threat. If your name is on it, theirs isn’t. And, in their eyes, that’s unacceptable.

They might offer polite edits. Suggest a delay. Or steer it into a working group they control. If they can’t take credit, they’ll try to take control. And if they can’t control it, they’ll quietly work to kill it.

This isn’t always loud or obvious. It’s slow. Strategic. Smothering.

How to recognize it:

Ego doesn’t usually show up as direct opposition. It shows up like this:

• Someone suddenly wants to “re-scope” the idea

• You’re told to “socialize it more” with someone senior

• A decision gets pushed into a working group where the power dynamics shift

• The idea gets rewritten or watered down “to align with existing priorities”

• They ask to co-lead after they ignored it for weeks

It’s not sabotage. It’s a quiet attempt to rewrite who owns the story.

How to prepare for it:

Don’t pitch your idea like it’s yours. Pitch it like it’s ours.

Before you share the idea broadly, find the one person whose ego is most at risk and engage them with a real question. Something that invites their opinion, not their approval.

Something like:
“What do you think I’m missing here?”
“Who else needs to be part of this to make it work?”
“If this succeeds, where does it run into trouble?”

Pride: “This makes me look bad.”

New ideas don’t just promise something better. They also reveal what others missed, overlooked, or failed to act on. That revelation shines a light on past mistakes.

The wrong call.
The failed project.
The money that went into the thing this idea would replace.

For some, that’s not just uncomfortable. It’s humiliating. If backing your idea means someone has to admit they were wrong, they won’t do it. They’ll stall. Redirect. Or quietly steer attention somewhere else.

It’s not always grounded in ego. Sometimes it’s self-preservation. If your idea rewrites the story of how the company got here, someone’s reputation is at stake.

How to recognize it:

• Leaders redirect attention to old initiatives that “still have legs”

• They say the idea “feels premature” or “off-brand”

• They delay with new requests: another round of feedback, another layer of alignment

• The people most impacted are never in the room (and never will be)

What’s happening isn’t debate. It’s defensiveness.

How to prepare for it:

Don’t make the issue about fixing the past. Make it about continuing the story. Use language that honors what came before, even if that venture failed. Say:

“This builds on the foundation you laid.” 
“This picks up where [X initiative] left off.” 
“This finally makes [past effort] viable.”

You’re not selling improvement. You’re offering redemption.