Think better. Lead better.

Dear Reader

Why people say they want innovation… and then cling to the old way like it’s a family heirloom.

I don’t understand the resistance, if I’m honest.

I clearly said we were “innovating”. I sent the slide deck. I used the word future at least fourteen times. I even changed the font to something something sleek and modern, which, as we all know, is the highest form of influence.

And yet here you all are, staring at me like I’ve just suggested we replace chairs with beanbags and let a ferret run the weekly ops meeting.

Which is confusing. Because innovation is good. Everyone agrees innovation is good. People clap at innovation. They nod earnestly during town halls. They say things like “we need to challenge the status quo” while sitting extremely comfortably inside it, like a cat that’s found a warm laptop.

And then the moment you actually challenge the status quo, the mood turns.

Suddenly there are questions. Lots of them. Some reasonable. Some deeply philosophical. Some suspiciously nostalgic.

→ “Why can’t we just tweak the existing process?”
→ “This worked fine before.”
→ “Have we really thought through the risks?”
→ “Who approved this?”
→ "What happens to my role?”

Ah. There it is. The real question. Not about the process. Not about the system.

About safety.

Because people aren’t invested in the status quo because it’s brilliant. They’re invested because it’s familiar. And familiarity feels like safety, even when it’s inefficient, frustrating, and quietly draining the life out of everyone involved.

The real threat isn’t change. It’s what change implies about you.

I'm going to make this awkwardly clear.

When people resist innovation, they are rarely protecting “the old way” out of loyalty. They’re protecting something far more intimate:

• Competence: “I know how to win in this system. I might not in the new one.”
• Status: “My value is visible here. It might not be there.”
• Identity: “This is who I am at work. If this changes, who am I?”
• Certainty: “I can predict outcomes here. In the new world, I’m exposed.”
• Belonging: “My place in the social order makes sense here. Change might disrupt it.”

So when a leader announces a new tool, new process, new strategy, new AI platform, new operating model, the nervous system doesn’t hear “progress”.

It hears: You might feel stupid. You might look slow. You might lose your edge. You might be less needed.

That’s the threat.

And it’s not theoretical. In corporate life, feeling incompetent can genuinely cost you influence, credibility, and opportunity.

So yes, people cling to the status quo. Not because it’s good. Because it feels safe enough.

A quick detour: why your brain would rather keep the broken system

There’s a reason this reaction is stubborn, and it has nothing to do with “mindset”.

Your brain evolved to keep you alive, not innovative.

There’s a well-studied behavioural concept called loss aversion. We experience potential losses as more painful than equivalent gains feel pleasurable. Losing £10 hurts more than finding £10 feels good.

Innovation promises upside in the future.

Often vague, conceptual, and shaped like a PowerPoint slide.

The perceived loss is immediate and personal.

And when the nervous system senses loss, it tightens the grip.

That grip can look like cynicism. Or “healthy scepticism”. Or endless risk questions that never end in action. Or the classic corporate move: agreeing in the meeting, then continuing exactly as before.

The manual vs automatic car example

There's a deliciously human example about cars.

When automatic cars became popular, plenty of people with manual cars were adamant that automatics were awful. Lazy. Less “connected”. Not real driving. Possibly a sign of moral weakness.

And then, very inconveniently, once people went automatic… they didn’t go back.

Unless they kept a manual for sentimental reasons. Or because they enjoy pretending their commute is the Monaco Grand Prix.

This is the pattern.

People don’t resist innovation because it’s objectively worse. They resist because switching temporarily threatens their identity as a competent, capable person.

A manual driver has years of skill built into their body. Muscle memory. Mastery. Status. There’s a subtle pride in it. Automatic removes that entire competence badge overnight.

The threat isn’t, “Will the car drive?”

It’s, “If the skill I’m proud of is no longer required, what does that say about my value?”

Replace “manual driving” with “being the Excel wizard”, “knowing the legacy system”, “having the right contacts”, “being the fixer”, “being the one who knows how things work around here”.

Same story. Different dashboard.

How this probably shows up for you

For leaders, resistance to innovation often sounds like:

“I just need a bit more data.”
“Let’s not rush this.”
“I want alignment before we move.”
“This isn’t the right timing.”

Sometimes those are wise statements. Sometimes they’re avoidance.

Because innovation doesn’t just threaten your team’s roles. It threatens your leadership identity too.

→ If your credibility has been built on being the expert, innovation asks you to become the learner again.

→ If you’re known for decisiveness, innovation introduces ambiguity.

→ If you’ve been rewarded for control, innovation demands trust.

And if you’ve unconsciously built your self-worth around being needed, innovation can feel like redundancy in slow motion.

The result?

Leaders over-communicate certainty. Or over-engineer plans. Or delay decisions under the banner of rigour. Or delegate “innovation” to a task force so they can remain safely competent in the old world while applauding the new one from a distance.

Do this: reduce threat enough for learning to come back online

You don’t “win people over” with logic when they feel threatened.

You create conditions where their nervous system settles enough for curiosity to return.

This is why psychological safety matters, but not in the way people usually mean it.

It’s not about being nice. It’s about making it safe to experience the following without penalty:

• confusion
• incompetence (temporarily)
• questions
• mistakes
• experimentation
• not knowing

Safety isn’t a slogan. It’s an environment where people can be a beginner without being treated like a problem.

So what do you do, practically?

1) Name the threat out loud.​
Not with a dramatic pause. Just plainly.
“This will change how some of you do your work, and it may feel like your current expertise is being sidelined. That’s a real concern. We are all going to feel uncomfortable for a while as we go through this.”

When you name it, you normalise it. When you ignore it, people assume you either don’t get it or don’t care.

2) Protect competence while introducing new competence.​
Make it clear what still matters.
“We’re not throwing away your experience. We’re all working to upgrade the way it gets applied.”

In other words: you’re not obsolete. Your value is shifting and moving.

3) Make innovation small enough to survive.​
Reversible and adjustable experiments and pilots with decision dates beat rollouts.

Short feedback loops beat massive change programmes.

When the brain sees a reversible step, it’s more willing to step.

4) Create status for learning.​
If only the confident voices speak, everyone else stays quiet and resents you.
Make it socially rewarding to say: “I don’t know yet, but I’m learning.”

People follow what gets status, not what gets said.

Innovation fails when leaders sell the upside and ignore the fear of loss

Most leaders are trained to communicate the benefits.

But humans don’t decide based on benefits. They decide based on whether switching will cost them dignity, competence, belonging, or status.

The success of innovation depends on one central question:

Do your people feel safe enough to be temporarily bad at something?

If your answer is no, the status quo wins. Every time.

If the answer is yes, something almost magical happens.

This is the work I do with leaders to lead their teams through change.

We make it tangible. We translate “safety” into what you say, what you tolerate, what you reward, and how you handle pressure when things are messy.

Because when you feel safe, you think better. You lead better. You make braver decisions.

And when the people you lead feel safe around you, they start to innovate, not because you forced them to, but because their nervous system isn’t busy defending them from embarrassment.

Your coach,

Terez

P.S.: If your “innovation initiative” stalled right after the launch event with the inspirational video and the tote bags, it’s probably not the branding. It’s because no one felt safe enough to ask the question they're all thinking: "What about me?" And no, tote bags don't count as psychological safety.
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P.P.S.: If you enjoyed this, forward it to a colleague. Odds are they’re navigating change right now and pretending they’re fine.

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