Why is it that so many people are anxious to get the opinion of others – even pay consultants for it – only to flatly ignore the advice? Sure, it may not always be right but if you want to innovate, you must listen to differing opinions or even strange ones and open your mind to the possibility that they are correct.

There is a particularly fun show I catch now and then called “On Surfari” where a young couple travels the world surfing. One particular episode they surf great breaks in India on what is one of the saddest and most polluted beaches I’ve ever seen. The town council is excited to hear why these Americans chose to visit and surf – something rarely seen in this area. They invite the local news people, cameras and hosts to tell them how they can attract more tourists and more revenues as a result. The couple tells them to start with cleaning the beaches, providing infrastructure like waste management, educating locals on pollution and sanitary behaviors and giving locals other services to keep the beach free of abuse while providing jobs for the poor. Well, the council members were clearly not happy with this basic advice. They wanted to hear about advertising and spreading the word outside the country and more. They didn’t get that without a clean, safe, sanitary beach, they would never get the draw needed. 

Why was this advice so poorly received? Is someone telling you something you need to hear but you just aren’t accepting?