518: The non-obvious way to gain organization support for your ideas – with Doug Hall

Why product managers need to stop the stupid Watch on YouTube TLDR Innovation expert Doug Hall reveals why most organizations struggle with innovation despite recognizing its importance. Through his experience running Eureka! Ranch and Dexter Bourbon Distillery, Hall discovered that successful innovation requires a bottom-up transformation focusing first on empowering frontline employees to fix inefficiencies (“stop the stupid”), then enabling middle managers to improve systems, and finally allowing leadership to pursue bigger strategic innovations. This three-level approach has shown to increase innovation value by 28% versus the typical 50% decline seen in traditional top-down approaches. Key Topics: The Innovation Paradox: While 80% of CEOs say innovation is critical, only 20% believe their organizations are good at it Employee Innovation Barriers: 37% don’t see innovation as their job, 29% don’t know what to do about it Middle Management Challenge: Managers waste 3.5 hours daily dealing with mistakes and system flaws System vs. People Problems: 78% of issues come from flawed company systems, only 22% from employee mistakes The “Stop the Stupid” Approach: Start with empowering employees to fix immediate inefficiencies before pursuing larger innovations Three-Step Framework: 1) Teach innovation fundamentals, 2) Build confidence through early wins, 3) Develop systems thinking Measurable Impact: Organizations can achieve 4 improvement actions per employee per month Cultural Transformation: Focus on intrinsic motivation rather than external incentives The Innovation Paradox in Organizations: Why Companies Struggle to Innovate Doug shared that when you look at any survey of CEOs, more than 80% will say that innovation is crucial for their organization’s future success. However, when asked about their organization’s current innovation capabilities, the numbers flip dramatically – only about 20% believe their organizations are effectively innovating. Doug illustrated this disconnect with a story from his consulting work. His team had just presented breakthrough solutions to a problem that a CEO had previously deemed impossible. Rather than excitement, the CEO’s response was, “Huh, wow. I guess you did figure it out. Now what do I do? I guess I gotta do it.” The disappointment in the executive’s voice revealed a deeper truth about organizational resistance to innovation. This resistance manifests in various ways: Departments operating in silos resist changes that affect their established processes Middle managers hesitate to support innovations that might impact their performance metrics Frontline employees don’t see innovation as part of their role Existing systems and procedures inadvertently suppress new ideas Doug explained why simply having good ideas isn’t enough. Successful innovation requires addressing deeper organizational dynamics and systems that either enable or inhibit change. As we explored in our conversation, resolving this paradox requires a fundamental shift in how organizations approach innovation, starting not with grand strategies but with empowering employees to make small, meaningful improvements in their daily work. Breaking through this paradox requires recognizing that innovation isn’t just about generating new ideas – it’s about transforming how organizations think about and implement change at every level. This understanding forms the foundation for a more effective approach to organizational innovation. The Problem with Traditional Innovation Approaches: Why Good Ideas Often Fail Doug shared a startling insight from three separate studies that crystallizes why traditional innovation approaches often fall short.