*4.2.2. Overcoming the innovator's impatience*

Innovation leaders are naturally impatient and want to get on to the next thing. They can see it. Why cannot everybody else? Yet, within any large, established organization that is trying to do something different, the change will only come from many people doing many things differently.

Innovation leaders sometimes have a tendency to go around telling people what it is they need to do differently, taking it as read that changes are self-evident, desirable, and achievable.

There are two important counters to this way of thinking. First, the complexity of organizational change means that it is near impossible to figure out in advance the full implications of a significant innovation. They are not self-evident. We need a mechanism to work out "what this means for me/my team/my function."

Second, there is a human challenge to motivate and persuade. Nobody likes to be told what to do differently without also understanding "what's in it for me." Yet, many organizations are in such a hurry that they persuade themselves there is not time to engage and align their people.
