A recent article on innovation leadership claims that “great leaders bet on the unusual.” But what if the most unusual — and courageous — bet isn’t adding something new, but choosing what to stop?
We talk about risk as the price of innovation. But exnovation carries its own kind of risk: reputational, political, even emotional. Letting go of familiar products, outdated systems, or embedded habits can feel counter-intuitive — even reckless. Yet it’s often essential.
The article celebrates collisions of diverse perspectives as the spark for innovation. But those same collisions can raise uncomfortable questions:
“Why are we still doing this?” “What happens if we stop?”
Real leadership means creating a culture that embraces those questions too — not just the chase for what’s next. It means pruning, not just planting. Unmaking, not just making.
Progress isn’t always additive.
