When it comes to innovation, the reality is that dominance requires exploitation. Breakthroughs however do not necessarily align with this capability, at least in the "soft" sense. How can a balance be struck internally in your organization and in an individual so that the baby is not thrown out with the bathwater ? Here is how.
One of the key takeaways from The Role of Intuition and Deliberation for Exploration and Exploitation Success is that "exploration [ which is ] strongly related to intuitive decision making draws on both intuitive and deliberate decision making" however exploitation does not. Does this directly impact the perceived calm and persistence of your organizations ethos ? Yes. Does this coincide with frogs in boiling pots of water before they become cuisses de grenouilles? And more importantly can this be reversed ? Can intuitive decision-making style have a negative effect on exploitative success? Apparently observation is not positively correlated with deliberate decision-making and thus exploitative success. Why?
Essentially you can't leave it only to the bravest or most farsighted individuals for their decisions to influence long term success solely based on intuition. Organizations and organisms pay for long term successes to be assured just like droves of 2nd wave colonizers paid handsomely for accurate maps to their enterprising destinations. When it comes to discovery, intuition and innovation via exploratory success AND investigative enumeration is the surest way to increase breakthrough products and services.
