Innovation is a bridge covered in leaves

Crossing into new innovative

Thinking

Ever walk across a bridge so overgrown with leaves, moss, and mystery that you pause and wonder, "Will this even hold me?" It creaks. It sways. But step by step, you make it across and on the other side, something new awaits. That’s what innovation feels like. Beautifully uncertain. Covered in doubt, and yet, still leading somewhere.

In business, we crave new results but often resist the paths that feel unfamiliar. The overgrown bridge makes us nervous, so we stick to the paved road we’ve already traveled safe, familiar, uninspired.

Companies don’t always fear failure. What they really fear is discomfort and they call it “risk.”

But if everything feels comfortable, chances are you’re not innovating you’re repeating.

• Practice Micro-Bravery: Innovation doesn’t always require moonshots. It starts with tiny steps like pitching a strange idea in the Monday meeting, inviting someone new to lead, changing how you open your all-hands.

• Celebrate Tries, Not Just Triumphs: Reward effort, not just outcomes. Make space for the "almosts" and the "not quites." The best ideas often arrive disguised as flops.

• Build Bridge Builders: Find and elevate the people in your company who aren’t afraid of the wild trail. These are your culture catalysts the ones who walk first so others feel safe to follow.

You can’t walk into new thinking wearing old shoes. Sometimes, you have to lace up something uncomfortable, step onto that creaky bridge, and trust that it’s strong enough to take you somewhere better.

And if it’s covered in leaves? Even better. That means you’re the first one crossing.