Creative People Must Be Stopped: Six Ways We Kill Innovation (Without Even Trying)

Introduction

Creative People Must Be Stopped!

Given that a search on the term “innovation” returns more than forty thousand book entries on Amazon.com, does the world really need another book on the topic? Maybe the better question is Why do so many organizations continue to kill good ideas and fail in their innovation attempts despite this wealth of research and advice?

Innovation is a natural and desirable outcome of human interaction, yet it is systematically stopped in organizations, often by the very people who say they want it and who stand to benefit from it. I term these systematic stoppages innovation constraints.

Over the course of ten years of research, teaching, and consulting, I have identified the six dominant types of constraints ...