Berkeley Haas (UC Berkeley)

Jack Goncalo on What Organizations Get Wrong About Creativity—And What It's Costing Them

Jack Goncalo, a leading scholar on organizational creativity, explains why companies that loudly champion innovative cultures often sabotage the very ideas they need. Drawing on a series of experiments, he shows a stark gap between executives’ verbal endorsement of creativity and their unconscious rejection of truly novel proposals. Using an Implicit Association Test, Goncalo finds that participants more quickly associate the word “creativity” with negative terms such as “vomit” and “poison.” In practice, leaders gravitate toward safe, familiar solutions—what Goncalo calls the “Diet Coke” of creativity—especially during periods of high uncertainty when fresh ideas are most required. A vivid anecdote illustrates the stakes: Goncalo’s father was forced into early retirement after challenging Intel CEO Andy Grove with a dissenting suggestion. Conversely, his research on political correctness reveals that explicit PC norms, unlike politeness or sensitivity cues, reduce interpersonal uncertainty in mixed‑gender groups, allowing both men and women to share bolder ideas. He also notes that narcissistic team members, while not inherently more creative, can inject confidence that emboldens others, though their contributions may lack substance. The findings imply that managers must redesign idea‑evaluation processes, surface hidden biases, and cultivate environments where uncertainty is managed rather than avoided. Leveraging constructive confidence and clear, inclusive norms can unlock the creative potential that organizations currently suppress.