The Problem with “Better”: How Overvaluation Stifles Innovation

BIG IDEA In A Few Words

Innovation requires change, which is why implementing new ideas is so difficult for people and organizations. Over time, professional disciplines become even more change averse than organizations. We tend to overvalue our own ideas and undervalue the contributions of others. Leaders favor change when their idea is driving the process but are about as change averse as the general population otherwise. Scientists have referred to this as the “toothbrush theory.” Everybody needs a toothbrush, everybody has a toothbrush, but no one wants to use anyone else’s. Leaders are just as vulnerable to the toothbrush theory as scientists.