Where do new ideas usually die? Middle management snuffs them out. They sift and shape, and usually reject ideas that are not confident will succeed. Managers careers who propose ideas that flop are immediately stalled. Reputation makes it impossible to push risky ideas.
Short-termism is also at play. Hesitant to push something that will take many years to develop if won’t be in the job more than a few years.
Weed out small markets, only tackle big markets. But most exciting growth markets always start small.
Then existing customers are polled and they add credibility or help kill ideas that don’t fit in the wheelhouse of what a company already does.
Middle managers can make funding decisions and decide which ideas get pushed forward. They always filter by values and deliberate strategy of the company.
Senior executives must be involved in disruptive businesses. You can’t leave things up to middle management because they will use existing values and processes. Even in ideation portion of innovation, middle management should not reject ideas without senior approval.
