
Innovation isn’t a solo act. It’s not a stroke of genius that happens in isolation. It’s a team sport—one that requires selling ideas, finding the right collaborators, and securing buy-in to move forward. And just like in dating, coming up with a great idea is only the first step—the real challenge is making the right match and finding the perfect alignment to turn that idea into reality.
Anyone who has tried to introduce a new idea inside a corporation knows the struggle of getting buy-in when their organization isn’t aligned. Bureaucracy, risk aversion, and status quo thinking create what I call the never-ending 'Human Loop of Innovation’, a cycle that slows decision-making and keeps game-changing ideas from ever seeing the light of day. But this isn’t just a process problem; it’s a human problem. Fear of rejection, fear of failure, and fear of blame can paralyze innovation. After all, we’re taught to 'blame the process, not the people'—but what happens when there is no clear process? Without structure, uncertainty takes over, decisions stall, and progress grinds to a halt. Before long, even the boldest innovators stop engaging.
The cost of slow decision making is staggering. While consumers can swipe right on a dinner choice in seconds, corporations can take months—or even years—to greenlight a single idea. Reaching just one decision can cost up to $1 million in man-hours. For critical sectors like energy and utilities, where modernization is essential to keeping the grid reliable and affordable, these delays don’t just cost money, they impact entire communities.
And yet, time after time, good ideas don’t make it. Not because they aren’t viable, but because they weren’t aligned or matched well enough to overcome objections and survive the Human Loop.
The True Silent Killer of Innovation? Alignment and Time.
In theory, decision-making should help organizations weed out bad ideas and refine the good ones. But in practice, it often does the opposite—draining momentum, leadership support, and urgency. The longer an idea sits in limbo, the more likely it is to fade into irrelevance.
Here’s why:
Key sponsors move on. New leadership doesn’t always see the same value in the idea.
The original mission gets diluted. Teams lose sight of the why.
Momentum disappears. What was once a bold new concept becomes just another outdated proposal.
I call time the silent killer of good ideas—because when ideas go stale, they won’t scale. But misalignment is equally deadly. Of all the factors I look at when I measure innovation performance, time and alignment are the key predictive precursors for success. Knowing how much time an idea is taking to reach a decision and if it starts to feel misaligned, is vital if you want to innovate.
Speed Dating for Innovation: How AI is Matching Challenges with Breakthrough Solutions
So how do we fix the bottleneck that slows innovation? The answer lies in Creative Abrasion, a concept coined by Harvard Business School professor and InnovationForce co-founder Dr. Linda Hill. The premise? Ideas get stronger when they are rapidly tested against diverse perspectives. They gain traction when they have a marketplace of ideas—a dynamic, collaborative environment where teams can refine concepts through debate and crowd wisdom.
Let’s take a simple example. It’s been a long day, and you’re finally home when your family decides they want to go out for dinner. But where? A debate begins—one person wants sushi, another wants pizza, and someone else suggests tacos. How do you break the tie? You pull up a food app, check the reviews, see what’s trending, and—boom—you’ve got consensus. Sushi it is.
Successful innovation works the same way. When we start with a broad marketplace of ideas, teams can refine and improve them through discussion, iteration, and collaboration. When they can be quickly scored by the crowd or by peers, the best ideas rise to the top, not because of internal politics, but because they are tested against real-world needs and validated by collective intelligence.

But creating a true marketplace of ideas is harder than it sounds. It requires deep research, gathering diverse feedback, coding, and aligning ideas with real business goals. Let’s be honest, no one has time to build an innovation system from scratch.
Imagine if your company had to create its own Uber Eats for innovation—an app where you could browse solutions, compare reviews, and make quick, informed decisions. Now, take it a step further: what if you had to convince your competitors to join in, share their learnings, and collaborate? It sounds impossible, right?
But what if we could change that?
What if industries had AI-powered marketplaces of ideas, designed to match the right innovations with the right challenges—just like a dating app for innovation? Instead of swiping through endless options, AI automatically pairs companies with vetted, high-impact solutions. Think of it as a blend of Tinder, Uber Eats, and LinkedIn—but instead of finding dinner or a new job, you’re finding the perfect innovation partners and ideas.
This isn’t a distant vision. It’s happening now. Welcome to InnovationWorks, an AI-driven SaaS platform transforming how industries collaborate, innovate, and scale ideas at lightning speed.
Getting Innovation to Work
InnovationWorks is built to break through the bottlenecks of the Human Loop by applying the principles uncovered in Dr. Linda Hill’s research—all in an intuitive, out-of-the-box platform that’s as simple as logging in and getting started. No complex setup, no wasted time—just seamless, AI-powered innovation.
What InnovationWorks Delivers:
✅ A curated marketplace of ideas tailored to industry needs, eliminating the guesswork in sourcing innovation.
✅ AI-driven matchmaking that connects industry challenges with vetted solutions, dramatically reducing research time and ensuring high-impact ideas rise to the top.
✅ Real-time trending insights to show which challenges and solutions are gaining traction—helping teams identify emerging priorities.
✅ A built-in scoring tool to help innovators prioritize challenges and solutions—whether industry-wide or within private workspaces, where SMEs can collaborate and refine ideas.
✅ A guided workflow that automates next steps, tracks progress, and provides data-driven KPIs to help predict success in the Human Loop.
✅ The power of collective intelligence, leveraging crowd wisdom to surface the best ideas and eliminate wasted effort.
By integrating AI into the Human Loop, organizations can finally move beyond slow, inefficient decision cycles—replacing them with agile, informed innovation, where solutions are tested, validated, and implemented in record time.
The Data Speaks for Itself
Companies using InnovationWorks are seeing game-changing results:
🔹 Up to 85% faster decision times
🔹 Up to 65% shorter pilot timelines
🔹 On average, $500,000 saved per idea
These aren’t just small wins. They’re the difference between innovation happening—or not.
The Future of Grid Reliability Depends on Faster, Smarter Collaboration
For utilities, AI-driven decision support isn’t optional—it’s mission-critical. Grid modernization efforts are growing in complexity, and the ability to rapidly test, validate, and scale new technologies will determine whether utilities can keep up with increasing demands.
Without a faster decision-making process, innovation will always lag behind the pace of change. And in an industry where reliability and affordability are paramount, that’s a risk we can’t afford.
So What’s the Next Step?
The future of innovation isn’t just about technology, it’s about how we make decisions. And with AI in the loop, we can finally break through the bottlenecks that have held innovation back for too long.
If you’re tired of watching great ideas stall in the Human Loop, it’s time to change the game. Rethink collaboration. Join our innovation marketplace. Innovation doesn’t have to be slow, frustrating, or exclusive—it can be smarter, faster, and connect you to more validated solution ideas than ever before.
Ready to stop watching ideas stall and start making real matches that drive impact? The future of innovation is already here. Join us by signing up for a free InnovationWorkspace Test Pilot account to get started.