557: Overcome Resistance to New Ideas, with David Schonthal

Coaching for Leaders

Dave Stachowiak

Education, Business, Management, Self-improvement, Careers

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David Schonthal: The Human Element David Schonthal is an award-winning Professor of Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management where he teaches courses on new venture creation, design thinking, healthcare innovation and creativity. In addition to his teaching, he also serves as the Director of Entrepreneurship Programs and the Faculty Director of the Zell Fellows Program. Along with his colleague Loran Nordgren, David is one of the originators of Friction Theory – a ground-breaking methodology that explains why even the most promising innovations and change initiatives often struggle to gain traction with their intended audiences – and what to do about it. He is the author with Loran of The Human Element: Overcoming the Resistance That Awaits New Ideas*. In this conversation, David and I discuss how leaders can do a better job at helping others overcome resistance to a new idea. We explore the distinction between friction and fuel — and why leaders tend to miss opportunities to reduce friction. David also shares several, practical strategies that almost all of us can use to reduce the weight of friction with those we are trying to influence. Key Points When introducing something new, we tend to think more about fuel than we do about friction. Both are essential for traction. Repetition is missed opportunity in most organizations. Leaders tend to want to perfect the details too much. Start small with a beacon project to prototype the value change may bring to the organization. Leaning in on making a new idea prototypical will help it be more familiar to those you are trying to influence. Emphasize what is similar — not just what is new. Analogies can help bridge the gap between the new and the familiar. Use an analogy the audience can relate to. Adding an extreme option and/or an undesirable can help transform inertia from a friction into a fuel. Resources Mentioned The Human Element: Overcoming the Resistance That Awaits New Ideas* by Loren Nordgren and David Schonthal Related Episodes How to Succeed with Leadership and Management, with John Kotter (episode 249) How to Pivot Quickly, with Steve Blank (episode 476) The Way Innovators Get Traction, with Tendayi Viki (episode 512) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Leaders are often the ones asking the organization or team to move on a new idea.
0:06.3	As such, we know better than anybody how much resistance shows up with any kind of change.
0:12.6	In this episode, how to overcome a bit of that resistance and keep moving forward.
0:18.0	This is Coaching for Leaders Episode 557.
0:23.2	Greetings to you from Orange County, California. This is Coaching for Leaders, and I'm your host, Dave Stahoviak.
0:30.2	Leaders aren't born. They're made. And this weekly show helps you discover leadership wisdom through insightful conversations.
0:38.2	You've heard me mention this distinction on the show before between management and leadership.
0:43.2	I'm a big believer that management is our answer to complexity.
0:46.2	Leadership is the answer to change. So much of our work as leaders is about how we handle change in our organizations, how we inspire it, and yes, how do we overcome the obstacles to change.
0:57.2	Today, I'm so glad to welcome a guest who's absolutely an expert at helping leaders in organizations.
1:04.2	To be able to move on new ideas and overcome the resistance that's so often we see in them.
1:09.2	I'm so glad to introduce to you David Schoenthal. He is an award-winning professor of strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management, where he teaches courses on new venture creation, design thinking, healthcare innovation, and creativity.
1:14.2	In addition, he has a lot of opportunities to be able to move on new ideas and overcome the resistance that's so often we see in them.
1:22.2	I'm so glad to introduce to you David Schoenthal. He is an award-winning professor of strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management, where he teaches courses on new venture creation, design thinking, healthcare innovation, and creativity.
1:31.2	In addition to his teaching, he also serves as the director of the entrepreneurship programs and the faculty director of the Zell Fellows program.
1:41.2	David has contributed to Forbes, Fortune, the Harvard Business Review, and has been recognized by thinkers 50 and cranes Chicago Business First Work.
1:49.2	Along with his colleague Lauren Nordgren, David is one of the originators of friction theory, a groundbreaking methodology that explains why even the most promising innovations and change initiatives
1:59.2	often struggle to gain traction with their audiences, and what to do about it.
2:06.2	He is the author with Lauren of the human element, overcoming the resistance that awaits new ideas.
2:12.2	David, such a pleasure to have you on the show.
2:14.2	Thanks for having me.
2:15.2	You start the book with an analogy about a bullet, and you ask the question, what makes a bullet fly?
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