Stop Waiting 
for Bigfoot

By Dr. Sam Adeyemi

Ideas about workplace innovation are evolving, but not every organization is keeping up. In fact, according to a 2021 Gallup study, no more than 38% of workers in any country ever “strongly agree” that their leadership supports innovation. Many executives are still clinging to outdated myths about creativity and waiting for some elusive “Bigfoot” to show them the way forward.

Unfortunately, he isn’t coming. So, let’s stop waiting and take a look at (and debunk) four innovation myths that can sabotage otherwise successful leaders.

MYTH #1: IT ALL HAPPENS ORGANICALLY.

The 1989 sports drama Field of Dreams is a fixture in cinematic history. Forever immortalized by its most famous line, “If you build it, he will come.” This principle, however, does not apply to cultivating innovation. Successful executives can’t just carve a baseball diamond into a field and turn on the lights. Without guidance, workplace fear and internal bias will crush innovation efforts before they even begin.

So, what’s the answer? Less micromanagement and more risk-free dialogue at every level. As always, empowering employees is the fastest way to usher your organization into the future.

MYTH #2: IT WORKS THE SAME FOR EVERYONE.

The Happy Meal is a cornerstone of McDonald’s’ success, generating around $10 million in revenue per day and drastically boosting overall sales. This game-changing innovation was the brainchild of three very different professionals: one store owner, one regional manager and one advertising executive. Each individual arrived at the idea for different reasons, but all three had a serious impact on the Happy Meal that we recognize today.

But, what if those disparate routes to innovation had been blocked? What if no one had been listening? The best leaders understand that ideas come in all shapes and sizes, and they also understand that expressing those ideas looks different for everyone. Set the stage for innovation, but let everyone perform in their own time with their own instrument.

MYTH #3: IT’S AN INDIVIDUAL PURSUIT.

When children play together, it is not uncommon to hear them reacting to or “building on” each other’s imagination. One child declares that the coat rack is a ferocious dragon, which leads another to pick up his paper plate and brandish it as a shield. Another child yells that the dragon is breathing fire, so yet another uses her straw to squirt some water and extinguish the flames.

This type of collaboration is much less common among adults, but absolutely essential to innovation. This is because innovation does not thrive alone, which is why successful leaders set aside time for collaborative creativity and make it crystal clear that innovating for the group is always rewarded.

MYTH #4: FAILURE MEANS IT ISN’T WORKING.

Dune by Frank Herbert. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. Carrie by Stephen King. These books have two things in common: (1) each was a daring and innovative addition to its genre, and (2) each was rejected over 20 times by publishers before finding its own success.

Failure is not a sign that your methods of innovation aren’t working. In fact, risk is inherent in all innovation, so failure is expected. Researchers for a joint university study that examined everything from grant applications to terrorist activity discovered two well-defined trends about failure: (1) it happens to everyone, and (2) it only prevents success when people stop trying.

This is practically a scientific mandate to embrace your mistakes. After all, to the seasoned leader, failure is simply a part of progress.