The Myth of Safe Novelty: The Familiar Disguised as Innovation

The author studies medicine and business at Stanford University and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He notes that scientific funding often rewards projects “that build on concepts that have had time to mature. The safest bet, it turns out, is often not the truly radical project but the one that feels new while still resembling that which has succeeded before.” He writes that “for young leaders, the challenge for us is to move beyond small fixes and confront harder structural questions. In health care, that means stronger primary care, simpler coverage, more equitable payment, less consolidation that drives up prices while claiming efficiency, and care models that reduce administrative drag instead of shifting it downstream.” Further, “our task is to become visionaries; to widen the aperture of innovation so it does not merely extend existing systems but transforms them. We must resist the seduction of being just novel enough to fit in and advance our careers at the expense of the deeper change needed to benefit society.”