Creating an innovative vision is not limited to individual idea generation, but requires the ability to let go of initial insights in order to generate better collective solutions. The study, published in the Journal of Business Research, challenges traditional notions of innovation and shows that ‘letting go’ is as important as generating ideas.

What does it really take to create an innovative vision? It is not just having the right idea, but knowing how to let it go.

This is the crux of the study by Paola Bellis, Roberto Verganti and Federico Zasa, professors at the POLIMI School of Management of Politecnico di Milano, published in the Journal of Business Research, which explores how individual intuition and the ability to ‘let go’ are crucial to creating completely new product visions within a team.

The article ‘Who drives the creation of a novel vision? The role of individual insights and the ability to “let go’”, addresses two contrasting approaches that dominate the innovation literature.

One is that the vision is created by the creative leader, who drives the process and builds consensus from other team members. On the other, it is suggested that a vision can emerge from a balanced collaborative effort in which all members contribute equally.

However, the authors introduce a new perspective, emphasising that it is not so much who is the main initiator of the vision, but rather the ability of team members to give up early insights when necessary.

By analysing 26 top management teams, the researchers show how initial descriptions of a vision are transformed from mere individual ideas into shared concepts. This process, called sense-breaking, is as important as adding new insights: abandoning or modifying initial ideas allows collective creativity to evolve and grow.

This suggests that success in innovation comes not only from the brilliance of an initial idea, but also from the ability to collectively adapt and revise insights to make way for a larger, shared vision.

To read the complete article: Who drives the creation of a novel vision? The role of individual insights and the ability of “letting go”