Three Things Blog » Three Things That That Cause People to Reject New Ideas

Posted by Leslie Ehm in General, Ideation, Presentation
15 Apr

We’re always being asked for ‘new’ ideas. “Innovation” they shout from the rooftops – clients, bosses, head office. But why then, when we bring them something new do we invariably get blank stares, stressed faces or outright rejection? Don’t they recognize something new and challenging when they see it? The problem is – yes, and with new and challenging comes a set of opposing ingrained responses.

Here are Three Things that cause what I call the ‘Brain Freeze’ syndrome;

1.The brain stem: We’re literally programmed to be afraid of something we don’t understand. Our brains were designed that way to protect us. The brain stem creates a powerful barrier that very quickly filters and then rejects anything that it doesn’t immediately have point of reference for – triggering the classic fight, flight or freeze instinct. This was useful when it was us against nature, but not so much anymore. Now we mistakenly call it ‘gut’ instinct. But you need to know its happening when trying to persuade people.

2. No point of reference: We love to be able to put things into categories. When something defies categorization, our confidence slips away because we feel like we can’t tap into our own knowledge base. This makes us sweat because we try to imagine bringing the idea to life and all we can see are blank spaces which we mistake for ‘problems’. Truth is, we have no idea if they’re problems or not, because we have, well, no idea. Better safe than sorry though – so rejection ensues with a curt ‘it’ll be too tough to make that happen’.

3. No trust: Sometimes relationships, even rapport alone, can make a person accept something that makes them uncomfortable. That’s why those who sell best win. Just look at the ad space for examples. How many times have you encountered an ad and gone ‘huh’?? Someone somewhere convinced an audience to buy it. Trust will do that. It allows us to not transcend, but skirt around our fears because we’re confident in deferring to someone else. So whereas we don’t have to truly accept the new idea, we believe that those who ‘know better’ have found the answer.

        Coming soon – Three Ways to Counteract Brain Freeze!

        2 Responses to “Three Things That That Cause People to Reject New Ideas”

        1. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Erica Ehm, Evelyn Hannon, Evelyn Hannon, GotSaga, Patty Hamilton Faith and others. Patty Hamilton Faith said: RT @YummyMummyClub @LeslieEhm: New blog post: Three Things That That Cause People To Reject New Ideas… http://ow.ly/1yNTg [...]

        2. Darien says:

          I am definitely bookmarking this blog and sharing it with my acquaintances. You will be getting plenty of visitors to your web site from me!

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