The passage of breakthrough ideas: organisation insights from the Darwinian revolution

Successful ideas break through and get implemented in organisation and in society. This article proposes a Breakthrough Model as a new framework for understanding the passage of breakthrough ideas. It accommodates and moves beyond mainstream management thinking in identifying the factors and processes that contribute to ideas breaking through. Drawing on illustrative insights from the Darwinian revolution, and the literature, it suggests that organisations can make substantially better use of their existing human skills and improve performance through the management of the passage of breakthrough ideas