Describe a good idea of yours that never got adopted. Looking back, what killed it — and how much of that was in your control?
Why this works
Most novel ideas die in the selling rather than the thinking, and how a candidate reads the autopsy shows whether they treat adoption as part of the creative work. The in-your-control clause blocks the easy version where the organization was simply too slow to recognize genius.
Follow-up probes
- Who needed convincing, and what did they actually object to?
- What did you try — and what didn't you try?
- Would the idea still be worth doing today?
- What would you do differently on the next idea?
What good looks like
A fair steelman of the objections, a sober split between what they could and couldn't control, at least one concrete thing they'd now do differently in the selling, and no lingering bitterness toward the people who said no.
Red flags
The organization is cast as uniformly blind, the idea's real weaknesses never surface in the telling, one pitch was made and its rejection filed as proof nothing changes, or the lesson drawn is to stop suggesting things.
More Innovation & creativity questions
All 11 innovation & creativity questions
Related across competencies
Build the interview around it
One vetted question is an ingredient, not the meal. Plan the interview and three short steps will work out which competencies your role needs, no account required. Or subscribe and get new vetted questions and interview guides as we publish them.