Innovation and the Seven Deadly Sins, Take 3: Pride

Posted: October 27th, 2009 in Innovation

“I’m Proud of My Middle School Honor Roll Student.”
- Bumper sticker seen on westbound I-94

“Pride cometh before a fall.”
- proverb

Gentle readers of my past postings know that I’ve been exploring the Seven Deadly Sins as a means to understand the ways in which corporations regularly sub-optimize—or even kill—innovation.

Having taken on both Envy and Lust in previous postings, I now turn my attention to Pride.

I’m neither a theologian nor an historian, but it seems to me that sometime since the Middle Ages, Pride underwent a partial makeover, rising above the rest of the Deadly Sins, to acquire at least some virtuous aspects.

In modern society, we now have ambivalent feelings about Pride. On the plus side, it’s laudable to be proud of: 1) inclusion in a particular group (gay parades are built around it; James Brown said it loud—he’s black and proud); 2) one’s own workmanship (“Made with Pride in the USA”); and even, 3) someone else’s accomplishments (Lou Gehrig will forever be known as, “The Pride of the Yankees”).

And yet, the rehab hasn’t been complete. The first sin, the sin which felled Lucifer, still has its dark core, however softened it may have become around the edges. Augustine got it right when he defined Pride as, “the love of one’s own excellence.” The downside of Pride was, and continues to be, the preoccupation with self, an arrogance borne of a belief in one’s superiority to others. Not for nothing is “I” the center of prIde.

But the risky and complex business of Innovation (at least Best Practice Innovation) is first and foremost, a team not an individual sport. Success—systematic, repeatable, bankable success—is possible only in a collaborative and team-centered environment. To this end, winning Innovation organizations harness diverse yet unified groups of individuals, governed by the checks and balances of a highly functioning collective, to unrelentingly uncover, understand, and ultimately solve, deep consumer/customer needs. Go-it-alone mavericks, incapable of leaving their egos at the door, are stumbling blocks, not help-mates in the cause.

How many CEOs, COOs, VPs of Marketing, Heads of R&D have suffered from the sin of Pride in their Innovation efforts? How many of these Prideful Innovators, convinced of their superiority to a team, certain of their unfounded consumer instincts, have rushed headlong into the pit of failure, often dragging the rest of us with them in the process?

Those who have logged more than a few laps around the Innovation track know what I’m talking about. We’ve all lived with the Prideful Executive who rejects wholesale the well-researched recommendations of the Innovation team because, “trust me, I know that I’m right.” We’ve all watched with professional horror as the Prideful Executive pushes an innovation to market that meets his/her own personal needs and likes—just not those of any actual consumers. And we all saw the disasters which inevitably ensued coming miles before they hit.

Oh, Dear Innovators, avoid the trap of Pridefulness. Yes, be proud of this discipline in which you labor. Take pride in your collaborative successes that make a real difference in consumers’ lives. But be Humble Innovators, relying always on the team. For ain’t none of us smarter than all of us.

Next in the series: Greed