The Blind Spot of Innovation

Knowing when to take the chance on a powerful idea

You all knew this was coming. Don’t pretend you didn’t. When my bread and butter is eschewing staid case studies for pop culture phenomena, I am NOT going to not talk about K-Pop Demon Hunters.

Saying that it’s just another animated film is like saying that there’s no difference between the Great Lakes and a golf course water obstacle. K-pop already commands a worldwide fandom that sells out stadiums, dominates social media, and drives billions in economic impact. Pair that with a fantasy action storyline rooted in a surprising amount of comedy, friendship, personal struggles, and a little romance (all the hallmarks of a good anime story), and throw in some incredibly catchy music to boot, and people stop, share, and get curious—the perfect recipe for viral resonance.

Which is why, when Sony “couldn’t see it” and Netflix bought it from them, it became the perfect metaphor for what happens when organizations underestimate unusual, hybrid ideas.

How do you keep from missing the boat on ideas like this?

Let’s decode it. 🚀

K-Pop Demon Hunters and the Power of a Good Idea

When I first heard the rumor that Sony sold K-Pop Demon Hunters to Netflix because “they just couldn’t see it,” I had to laugh. It’s the perfect metaphor for what happens to bold ideas inside organizations every day.

Sony had the rights. They had the concept. They had the chance to lead with something global, electric, and unexpected. Instead, they passed thanks to pandemic-era risk aversion.

Netflix took the bet. And now, with K-pop’s global fandom and anime-inspired storytelling riding a cultural wave, it looks like Netflix will be the one cashing in on both attention and momentum.

But let’s be honest: who among us hasn’t made a similar mistake?

I’m not talking about selling off a future Netflix hit. I’m talking about the everyday moments when innovation knocks on our door—only to get waved away because we don’t recognize it for what it is.

Why We Miss What’s Right in Front of Us

Innovative ideas often don’t look like the “right” kind of idea. They’re awkward. They’re hard to categorize. They don’t fit the boxes we’re used to.

That’s what happened here. K-Pop Demon Hunters didn’t fit Sony’s mental model of what animation should be, or what stories “travel” internationally. So they grouped it under a pandemic-era deal where Netflix would own the property but pay back the film’s production budget plus an additional fee capped at $20 million per project. It would guarantee Sony would make a profit without risking a theatrical flop. But what this deal did was ensure Sony would never benefit from an idea taking flight the way K-Pop Demon Hunters did.

Inside organizations, the same pattern plays out:

• A junior analyst spots a new way to use data and present information but gets told “that’s not how we do reporting.”

• A mid-level leader wants to pilot a gig-based model for talent but gets told “we don’t have authorities for that.”

• A small team prototypes a chatbot to help streamline HR inquiries, only to watch it die in committee because “what if people don’t like it?”

When decision-makers can’t “see it,” the idea gets shelved.

And then, someone else—often a competitor—is willing to test it. And they reap the rewards.

The Problem Isn’t the Idea

Here’s the painful truth: the problem isn’t usually the idea. The problem is the system.

Most organizations aren’t built to catch strange, boundary-crossing, or unexpected ideas. They’re optimized for risk management, predictability, and scale. That’s great for stability and the kind of guaranteed profit Sony was looking for during the pandemic era of necessary direct-to-platform distribution—but it’s absolutely terrible for transformation.

That’s why I keep reminding leaders: your job isn’t to have all the ideas. Your job is to build systems that won’t lose them when they appear.

Sony didn’t need to understand K-Pop Demon Hunters. They needed a system that said: “This is unusual. Let’s test it small, see if it connects, and evaluate from there.”

Instead, they defaulted to old instincts: If I don’t get it, it must not work, so I’ll dump it in this bin I created to make sure I make a profit, even if it flops.

Talent Is Innovation, Too

The same blindness shows up in how we evaluate talent.

Think of all the résumés that get tossed aside because someone doesn’t have the “right” pedigree. Think of the people who are quietly doing workarounds in your organization but don’t get recognized because they don’t wear the right rank, title, or badge. Think of the veterans, military spouses, or career-changers who walk into job fairs with stacks of transferable skills—and get told they don’t fit the job description.

This is our K-Pop Demon Hunters problem in talent form.

• We “just can’t see it” when a skill set doesn’t look like our template.

• We “just can’t see it” when someone comes from outside the industry.

• We “just can’t see it” when someone’s style, background, or approach feels unusual.

And so we pass. We let them walk. And someone else hires them, develops them, and benefits from the very talent we overlooked.

Why Leaders Don’t See It

It’s tempting to chalk this up to closed-mindedness, but most of the time it’s about mental models.

Leaders rely on schemas—patterns built from years of experience. Those schemas help them make quick decisions in complex environments. In the Army, for example, we trust commanders to make snap calls in combat because they’ve internalized years of tactical data. Adam Grant has a wonderful bit on this in Originals, where he talks about people’s ability to “intuit” the price and maker of luxury goods actually being based on years of experience and data.

But the very schemas that make us effective in one environment can blind us in another. If your mental model of “talent” is shaped by résumés, degrees, and time in service, you’ll overlook someone with an unconventional but highly relevant skill set. If your mental model of “innovation” is shaped by predictable business cases, you’ll miss the weird, unexpected mashups that turn into global hits.

This isn’t a personal flaw. It’s a structural flaw.

How to Build Systems That “See”

If we don’t want to miss the next K-Pop Demon Hunters—whether it’s an idea or a person—we need to redesign our systems. Here’s how:

1. Catch Unusual Ideas Early

• Create a sandbox or pilot process where anyone can pitch or test an idea with minimal gatekeeping (hackathons are great for this).

• Signal that novelty isn’t a liability—it’s a trigger for exploration.

2. Test, Don’t Judge

• Instead of deciding whether an idea is “good” at the outset, decide how small a test you can run to learn.

• Treat every pilot as data, not a referendum.

3. Widen the Lens on Talent

• Move from résumé- and pedigree-based hiring to skills-based assessments.

• Look at portfolios, project histories, and unconventional pathways.

4. Get People Looking Who See Differently

• Different perspectives are what help organizations “see” what insiders miss.

• If your decision-makers all share the same background, they’ll share the same blind spots.

5. Build Memory

• Archive lessons from failed or shelved projects so they’re not lost.

• Today’s weird idea might be tomorrow’s market advantage—if you can retrieve it.

The Netflix Lesson

Netflix succeeded because they’ve built a reputation—and a system—for taking bets on unusual ideas.

That doesn’t mean every bet pays off. (Anyone remember Cowboy Bebop: The Live-Action?) Innovation always comes with its fair share of flops. But enough of Netflix’s bets do pay off. And that’s what matters.

The lesson for workforce leaders is clear: You don’t need to “get” every new idea or every non-traditional candidate. You just need a system that catches them, tests them, and doesn’t let them slip away unseen.

Every organization collects missed opportunities. The real question is: are you going to let “I don’t see it” be the reason you miss the next wave?

Sony couldn’t see K-Pop Demon Hunters. Netflix did.

What about you?

When the next bold idea—or unconventional talent—walks through your door, will your system dismiss it…or will it catch it?