NORMATIVE BARRIERS TO INNOVATION [PODCAST S1E5]

How often have you heard the phrase “we do it because we have always done it this way”? This phrase is a common reason people give to do things a certain way. Sometimes it is a logical path to follow, but at other times it is the most absurd thing to do. But the person using this logic believes it to be a rational reason to continue doing things a certain way. It shows how norms dictates the behavior of individuals and organizations.

Role of Norms

Such norms can provide a significant advantage to people and companies as they save time and provide structure. However, the same patterns can become barriers to innovation when they prevent people from going beyond the normative boundaries.

When Norms become Obstacles

In this podcast episode, we explore how normative barriers to innovation prevent firms from change. These obstacles can and sometimes does lead to disruption of companies. As a second part of the three-part miniseries on ‘barriers to innovation,’ this episode explains how these obstacles prevent you from innovating.

Normative Barriers in Poetry

Just like in the last episode, we continue using the race car analogy to understand disruption. I also point to a poem by Sam Foss in this episode. The name of the poem is the Calf path. You can read that poem Here. In my opinion, it is an excellent depiction of normative barriers to innovation.

Key Take Aways

In this episode, you take away the following key lessons:

1. What are normative barriers to innovation?
2. How do normative barriers prevent change?
3. An example of normative barriers to innovation from the disc drive industry
4. The three levels at which these barriers to innovation exist
5. An example of ecosystem level normative barriers from a Japanese Keiretsu case

How to listen?

Go to the The Disruption Management audio course to listen to the entire series of audio lessons on Disruption.