Encouraging Innovation Doesn’t Always Inspire it

Takeaways

Companies often talk about innovation, leadership, and diversity, but they may use these terms to pacify employees rather than encourage real change.
Repeating empty slogans devalues real innovation and fosters complacency, making people passive rather than proactive.
True innovation creates value and solves problems, but many organizations conflate it with novelty or gimmicks, preferring the appearance of change over real transformation.

Beware of Companies That Talk About Innovation But Don’t Really Mean It

Back in my early 20s, I interviewed for a job where the last person I had to meet wasn’t even in the department I’d be joining. He was just kept “in the loop.” In his tiny, windowless office, wearing a double-breasted suit and sitting behind an oversized desk, he asked me one question: “Why should they hire you?”

As I thought of a unique answer to his generic question, my attention drifted to the poster hanging above his head. It was an eagle, perched on a branch, staring into the distance. Below the eagle was the word “LEADERSHIP” followed by some empty cliché. The absurdity of the situation made it hard to take him—or the interview—seriously.

That poster came from a line of business trinkets called Successories, which littered offices in the ’90s, pretending to motivate people. But in reality, these posters were corporate distractions, designed to give the appearance of inspiration without requiring actual change.

The Insincerity of Corporate Motivation

The Successories poster that perfectly captured corporate insincerity was the one for “DIVERSITY.” It featured several hot air balloons floating above their reflections in a lake, paired with a hollow message about the virtues of being different. It seemed to come with an unspoken rule: “Display this poster wherever you want to impress your staff about change, while ensuring nothing actually changes.”

These posters weren’t just corny—they were an insult to anyone with half a brain. A lone eagle as a metaphor for leadership? Really? Is a good leader someone who perches all day waiting to strike? Hardly.

I’m not against motivation. There’s value in motivating people. What bothers me is when companies use motivational slogans to pretend they’re fostering traits like innovation, leadership, and diversity while actually promoting the opposite—complacency.

Why Some Companies Don’t Want True Innovation

Why would an organization discourage something as valuable as innovation, even as they claim to promote it? Because traits like innovation, leadership, and diversity can be disruptive in companies that rely on stability and predictability to drive growth.

The more a company bombards people with messages about how “innovative” or “forward-thinking” they are, the more they pacify employees. They become passive and comfortable, believing they’re already doing something great. Passive people don’t challenge the status quo, and they certainly don’t innovate.

It’s not a grand conspiracy—most companies aren’t that calculated. But it’s the result of what I call devaluing by delusion. The endless repetition of empty values doesn’t make employees better; it convinces them they don’t need to try.

Innovation Isn’t About Buzzwords

Here’s why this concerns me: Innovation, when done right, creates value and solves real problems. But many businesses do one or the other, not both. Some would crumble if the problems they solve actually went away. Others are just trying to repackage old ideas and sell them as new.

This is more than just buzzwords and jargon. Grifters are always going to grift. The real problem is the deliberate conflation of innovation with gimmicks, novelty, and “new for the sake of new.” It’s easier for companies to tell you something is innovative than to let you figure it out for yourself.

Take the guy in that tiny office as an example. As long as the company let him believe he was a leader, he was less likely to actually be one. In his case, maybe that was for the best. But for the rest of us, the real danger is when we start believing in these hollow slogans without questioning them.

A Warning for the Rest of Us

If you ever find yourself in a company that talks a lot about innovation, leadership, or diversity, take a closer look. Ask yourself: Are they really promoting change, or are they just pacifying you with the illusion of it?

The next time you see one of those posters, don’t just roll your eyes and walk past it. Stop and think. What would happen if the company actually meant what the poster says? What if they genuinely embraced innovation? Would you be prepared for the change?