Idea killers: ways to stop ideas

In the creative thinking course I taught at the University of Washington, we spent time listing idea killers, statements often heard in organizations that prevent change. Chapter 4 of The Myths of Innovation explores them in detail since it’s essential any creative person familiarize themselves with these phrases and learn countermeasures to overcome them.

If you work with ideas, you will hear these phrases often in your life. Often they contain no logic, but unless someone challenges them they are used to end creative conversations.

For example, a statement like “we don’t do that here” presumes that there is a good reason it’s not done. But is there? Maybe someone bad at their job forgot to do it when the organization started? Or perhaps the fact that it’s not done is hurting the company.  The fact that something is or is not done says nothing about it’s value. You might as well say “the sky is blue” or “squares have angles”. They are merely observations.

But if a statement like “we don’t do that here” is said by a powerful person, it’s politically hard to challenge them about why this might be, or that it’s a problem. Progress is often based on doing something that has never been done in that organization before. But a leader’s pride in what might be a failed notion of tradition inhibits the examination of the tradition’s positive/negative values.

“We tried that already” presumes that the reason the attempt failed was because of the idea, and not the many other factors that might explain the failure. It could have been that the least competent people worked on the project, or that it was underfunded. The right question to ask in response is “Yes, but why did it not work before? What has changed now that might lead to a better outcome if we try again?” Unlike the idea killer, these questions lead to thinking, rather than preventing it from happening.

The basic method for defeating idea killers is to prepare, in advance, your responses to them. Convert any idea killer you hear into a question that examines the merit of the idea, rather than allowing the statement to presume there isn’t any. You can probably measure the open mindedness of a culture by how often idea killers are heard, and how well practiced people are in overcoming them.

Of course opportunity cost means that many ideas will need to be rejected to make any one idea possible. But when there is zero time allowed to consider new proposals, no new ideas are likely getting the support they need.

Idea Killers

  • We don’t do that here
  • That’s not the way we work
  • We tried that already
  • We don’t have time
  • That can’t work here / now / for this client
  • It’s not in our budget
  • Not an interesting problem
  • We don’t have time
  • Execs will never go for it
  • Out of scope
  • It’s too ambitious (“blue sky”)
  • It’s not ambitious enough
  • It won’t make enough money
  • It’s too hard to build
  • That isn’t what people want
  • Sarcastic / Snarky
    • What are you on?
    • Can we get someone with a brain in here?
    • Would you like a pony?
    • We will actively work against you
    • (Laughter)
    • (Silence)
    • This train is on fire

What are others you’ve heard? (Also see Idea Helpers, a positive spin on the same theme)

Chief_idea_killer_Marketoonist

107 Responses to “Idea killers: ways to stop ideas”

  1. Neil O'Connell

    Who are you again? And why are you dressed like that?

    Reply
  2. reid

    I heard these from my former CIO in my exit interview:

    “You’re too young to have any good ideas.”

    “You just don’t understand. IT has always been done this way, and it always will. There is no better way.”

    …from what I heard that CIO was unemployed for quite some time after he was laid off. :)

    Reply
  3. Caryn Rose

    “That’s not your job.”

    Reply
  4. wael

    it will never work

    it is not your bussines

    i never heared about that before

    you could not manage it

    do not be so sure about it

    Reply
  5. phil

    the one I use the most would be:

    “Yeah… well… no.”

    ;-)

    Reply
  6. Mark Long

    let’s put together a committee.

    (my apologies if this one has shown up already.)

    Reply
  7. Manny Bonet

    Here are two:

    Real people have do this …

    People will never understand that …

    and finally related to one of your other blogs I’m sure you will apreciate this.

    That is just too complex …

    Reply
  8. Anete Benedict

    It is very interesting for me to read this article. Thanks the author for it. I like such topics and anything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read a bit more soon.

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    Reply
  9. Pete

    What we really need to do is…

    *silence*

    We did something like that last time!

    Good idea, but we need to talk to x about it and we will get back to you

    Your not a designer.

    Mail it directly to me and we can talk about it further once I’ve had time to go through it

    Yeah, but someone has to pay for it.

    Reply
  10. Jess Weiss

    Great post, and here are a few I’ve heard recently:

    – Not within our purview / title / mission
    – That’s someone else’s job
    – We don’t want to step on x’s toes
    – We’re too resource constrained for such an ambitious project.

    Reply
  11. RAKESH

    DIMAG GAS CHARANY GAYA HAI (ARE U NUTS)

    Reply
  12. ren

    Not realistic.
    Too much psychology.
    Too little psychology.
    We need to think constructively!
    Stop talking about the Sopranos! :)

    Reply
  13. Joen

    In a past life I heard a frightening amount of these. But also, if I might augment your list, the notorious “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. On second thought, that credo might be a talking point in its own right.

    Reply

Pingbacks

  1. […] Michael Wade über What Senior Management Really Means, hat mich sofort an diese beiden Artikel von Scott Berkun und Seth Godin erinnert: Idea killers: ways to stop ideas und Top ways to defend the status quo. Natürlich sind Killersätze wie die folgenden nicht nur dem Senior Management überlassen, sondern jeder Projektteilnehmer kann hier “konstruktiv” Projekte töten. “That will never work.” “It’s been done before.” “It’s never been done before.” “We’ll get back to you on this.” “We’re already doing it.” […]

  2. […] Replying to a way old post here, but it is chock-full of real life idea-stoppers, and you are encouraged to add your own. Here are some I have encountered: Yeah, awesome! I love how you come up with new ideas all the time! Where do you get it all from? I’ll see what I can get the boss to sign up on and we’ll get right to it! […]

  3. […] scottberkun.com » Idea killers: ways to stop ideas Last week in the creative thinking course I’m teaching at UW, we spent time listing idea killers. Statements we’ve heard, or used, that stop ideas in their […]

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