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In this article, Robyn M. Bolton illuminates how our personal bias comes into play with the co-creator syndrome and how it can affect innovation.   

When I was a senior in college, I took a pottery class. 

One of our assignments, before learning to throw on the wheel, was to create a functional piece using slabs of clay.  I designed an Alice in Wonderland-inspired vase and built something that somewhat resembled the design.

Obviously impressed by my innate talent, the instructor offered to teach me a special glazing technique that used highly toxic chemicals to create…well…I stopped listening as soon as I heard “toxic chemicals.”  It was dangerous, so I was in.

The result was a rather misshapen (not Alice in Wonderland-inspired) vase that looked like it was made out of chunks of rusted metal.

I loved it!

My roommate hated it.

She declared it the ugliest thing she ever saw and forbid me from placing it anywhere in the apartment where she might have the misfortune of laying eyes on it.

To this day, she swears it’s the ugliest thing she’s ever seen.

I display it proudly on the bookshelf in my office.

It would be easy to explain our different reactions to my work of art as simply the result of different aesthetic preferences.  And while there may be some truth in it, I suspect the better explanation is the IKEA Effect.

Key points include:

• The Ikea effect
• Meatballs and lingonberries
• Objective governance

Read the full article, The IKEA Effect is Creating Zombies. Here’s How to Fight Them, on the MileZero website.