Machiavelli says…
“There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new order of things…Whenever his enemies have the ability to attack the innovator, they do so with the passion of partisans, while the others defend him sluggishly, so that the innovator and his party alike are vulnerable.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
I’ve not only seen this play out in real life, but personally experienced it. People really are slow, even sluggish, to come to the defense of the innovator. They don’t mind that she is sticking her neck out and they even strongly encourage it, but out of a desire to preseserve themselves the encouragers of innovation fail to show the same passion publicly.
People must be willing to put their signature on the line, and be called out by name to all who would hear that the innovation has their full support.
I think back to the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. The Blue-ray and HD-DVD war was still hot, and there was much discussion about which format would win. The day before Toshiba was to make a big announcement that a major film production company had signed an exclusive agreement to put their films on HD-DVD, they publicly backed out. The big party Toshiba had planned was instead cancelled at the last minute, and within weeks they had cut all research and development and production into HD-DVD. I believe the cost to the company was one billion dollars.
From that moment on Blue-ray has been the only format mentioned, and while HD-DVD may still have some other applications you will not find a movie at Blockbuster or Netflix in HD-DVD format.
HD-DVD was indeed an innovation, and Toshiba led, but because they failed to partner with others willing to allow their necks to be at risk it cost them a billion.
The church won’t lose a billion dollars, but as innovators we must continually be as cunning as a snake when it comes to promoting and implementing all of those good ideas. We should never be deceitful, but should always make sure we’re not the only ones willing to die. Otherwise the church will suffer from the loss of an innovator, and from the growth the change would have catalyzed.
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