Innovation has always had a public relations problem.

After something works, we romanticize it. We tell neat stories about visionary founders and breakthrough moments and pretend the path was logical all along.

Yet while those same innovators were in the thick of trying to build something new, the world rarely called them brilliant.

More often they were labeled impractical, unrealistic, difficult, or naïve. Real innovation almost never looks sensible in real time. It looks disruptive and inconvenient and slightly out of step with common sense.

That is why I’ve come to believe that meaningful progress requires a certain kind of unreasonableness. Not arrogance nor recklessness, but a quiet refusal to accept the limits everyone else has agreed to live with.

I was reviewing a simple framework recently that outlined seven timeless business principles, and what struck me is how closely they map to the way true innovators actually think and behave. On paper the ideas sound straightforward. In practice they require a level of courage most people never quite develop.

The first trait is an almost stubborn
commitment to vision.

Top innovators are willing to hold an image of the future long before there is evidence to support it. They make decisions based on where they believe things can go instead of where they currently are. Most organizations plan from the ground up, carefully extending the present into the next quarter. Innovators plan from the future backward. They let possibility lead and allow current constraints to follow.

So much of the work I do begins in that same place. Before systems, before strategy, before processes and metrics, there is the simple but uncomfortable question: what are you actually trying to build? Until that answer becomes clear, everything else is just motion.

The second trait is a willingness to
confront inner reality.

Innovators understand that businesses are not machines; they are reflections of the people running them. External outcomes are shaped by internal beliefs. Culture grows out of mindset. Decisions flow from values and fears that often go unexamined. That kind of self-honesty is rare because it is easier to blame markets or teams or circumstances than to look inward.

Yet again and again I’ve seen that when leaders change the stories they tell themselves, their organizations begin to change as well. This is the quiet power of alignment work. It helps people notice the invisible assumptions shaping their visible results. It invites them to work on the root instead of endlessly pruning branches.

The third trait is resistance to the modern
religion of hustle.

Innovators do not assume that more activity automatically equals more progress. They learn to distinguish between movement and momentum. In a culture that rewards busyness and urgency, they make the deeply unreasonable choice to slow down enough to aim properly. They prioritize meaningful action over frantic effort.

This is exactly why I keep repeating “clarify before you amplify.” Without clarity, hustle only makes confusion louder.

The fourth trait is an unusual relationship with failure.

Most professionals spend their careers trying to avoid mistakes at all costs. Innovators treat mistakes as information. They expect setbacks, mine them for lessons, and keep moving. They separate their identity from their outcomes. That posture is difficult because it requires humility and resilience at the same time.

Some of the most powerful transformations I witness in leaders happen when they stop treating problems as personal verdicts and start treating them as feedback. The moment that shift occurs, learning replaces shame and progress becomes possible again.

The fifth trait is respect for rhythm.

Innovators understand that sustainable performance moves in cycles. Periods of intense effort must be balanced with reflection and rest. Ideas need space to breathe. Teams need time to recalibrate. This perspective is almost countercultural in organizations that glorify burnout, yet it is one of the clearest differences between short-term success and long-term impact.

That is why I care so much about operating rhythms, intentional pauses, and structures that support steady follow-through. Healthy progress has a heartbeat.

The sixth trait is disciplined clarity of intention.

Top innovators write things down. They define goals in concrete language. They revisit those goals regularly and adjust them thoughtfully. In a distracted world, choosing focus is a radical act. Many businesses are busy without being purposeful. Innovators refuse to live that way.

Vision becomes powerful only when it is specific. Ambition becomes useful only when it is organized. The unreasonable leader takes the time to be precise about direction, even when the surrounding culture prefers vague enthusiasm.

The seventh trait is the ability to balance
vision with action.

Innovators refuse the false choice between dreaming and doing. They imagine boldly and execute patiently. They hold big ideas in one hand and practical next steps in the other. Most people fall to one side or the other, but progress lives in the middle.

When I look across these seven traits, I realize they describe almost perfectly the kind of leaders I most enjoy working with.

Alignment work, at its core, is not about helping organizations behave better inside familiar boundaries. It is about helping them question those boundaries in the first place. It is about helping people become just unreasonable enough to rethink old habits, outdated structures, and inherited assumptions.

Because history has never been shaped by those who were perfectly sensible. It has always been shaped by those who looked at the way things were done and decided, quietly and persistently, that a better way had to exist.

Strategic Reflection Prompt:

Where in your organization are you being far too reasonable…and what might open up if you weren’t?

About Giselle

I’m Giselle Hudson — Organization & People Development Sensemaker™, MCODE® Legacy Coach, writer and musician. I help leaders and independent professionals close the gap between strategy and execution by making invisible friction visible, so direction can finally translate into results.

If execution isn’t matching intent and you can’t quite see why, message me on WhatsApp. We’ll start with a brief Clarity Conversation to understand what you’re facing and decide together whether a focused Sensemaking Session is the right next step.