Innovation vs. Conformity: Why Great Ideas Sometimes Wait Their Turn
The Space Between Vision and Acceptance
Dear All,
Sometimes, an idea isn’t rejected because it’s wrong — but because it’s too early.
Innovation often moves faster than human comfort. While logic, data, and evidence can all point toward progress, adoption is rarely a purely rational decision. It’s emotional, cultural, and deeply human.
We tend to think innovation succeeds because it’s “better.” But history reminds us that it often succeeds when the world feels ready for it.
The Human Factor: Beyond the Metrics
You can measure almost everything in business — except readiness.
When an idea is far out in its thinking, people don’t just assess it; they feel it. There’s excitement, curiosity, but also hesitation. This emotional pause isn’t always resistance — it’s our instinctive way of reconciling something unfamiliar with what we already know.
That’s the invisible variable in every adoption curve: the human factor.
Great ideas often stall not because they lack logic, but because they lack emotional familiarity.
Conformity: The Comfort of the Known
Innovation’s silent rival is conformity.
People and organisations naturally gravitate toward what’s been validated — what feels proven, accepted, and safe. Change requires not just new thinking, but new trust. And trust takes time to build.
It’s why many groundbreaking ideas, from electric vehicles to renewable energy to digital payments, were initially met with doubt. The concept wasn’t flawed — it just didn’t yet fit the collective comfort zone.
Bridging Vision and Acceptance
The space between vision and acceptance can be years, even decades.
Successful innovators understand this. They don’t just invent — they translate. They find ways to connect the unfamiliar to the familiar, to make what feels far out today feel natural tomorrow.
Storytelling, education, collaboration — these aren’t marketing tools, they’re bridges between logic and emotion, between innovation and adoption.
A Contemporary Example
At AffordAssist, we witnessed this dynamic play out every day during our early years — though, eight years on, it became less common.
Our Interest-Free Deferred Deposit Solution had challenged a long-held assumption: that a full cash deposit was required to buy a home. Many aspiring homeowners had the income and borrowing capacity — they simply lacked the upfront cash.
It was an innovative idea — but also one that invited people to rethink what a deposit could be. For some, that shift felt liberating; for others, it felt unfamiliar.
That was the essence of innovation: existing in that in-between space, patiently building understanding until acceptance arrived. Learn more at https://www.affordassist.com/
Does the “How” Kill Your Dream?
This tension between vision and acceptance also echoes a question I explored in another article: Does the ‘how’ kill your dream?
Too often, we get bogged down in how we’ll do something — the mechanics, the steps, the formula — and lose sight of why we began. In that shift, the dream loses its life, turning into a checklist rather than a living vision.
When the “how” becomes dominant, it can suffocate the emotional energy that gives an idea its wings. That’s another way in which processes and conformity crowd out innovation — not through logic, but through over-control.
Closing Encouragement
If you are working toward a dream, may I encourage you: the elixir of creation is LOVE; without it, all our thoughts remain as dreams, a faint memory. Love your thoughts into life.
Regards
AA
B2B – AffordAssist facilitates and oversees the governance process. Are you a mortgage broker, lender, developer, real estate agent, affordable housing advocate, or housing minister? We welcome your collaboration. Join us in our mission to expand access to home ownership. Together, we can make a lasting impact.