Why We Resist Other People's Ideas

Saudi Arabia is in a phase of significant institutional and venture formation. New companies are emerging, international firms are entering, and national bodies such as MISA, MISK, PIF, CODE, KAUST, and the Tourism Development Fund are shaping conditions for organised growth. In such environments, ideas flow from multiple sources - founders, advisors, international partners, researchers, and government programmes. As this complexity increases, a predictable pattern appears: reluctance towards ideas that originate outside one's own terrain.

The "Not-Invented-Here" (NIH) dynamic, discussed in recent literature, is not limited to corporate settings. It is also a feature of early-stage ecosystems undergoing identity formation. Over the past five years, many Saudi organisations have focused heavily on internal build-up - structures, teams, processes, products. This phase generates ownership and confidence, but it also generates attachment. When identity becomes closely tied to output, external input can feel intrusive rather than supportive.

Anecdotal observations across founders, mid-level managers, and executives suggest recurring tendencies: the rebuilding of solutions that already exist locally or internationally; hesitation to adopt established global practices; and, conversely, a form of supportive distance where leaders encourage freedom without providing structure or direction. Decentralisation works effectively in mature systems because governance, incentives, and institutional disciplines have been refined over long periods. In Saudi Arabia, many organisations are still constructing these foundations; autonomy without frameworks therefore tends to fragment effort rather than accelerate innovation.

The NIH pattern emerges for structural, not cultural, reasons. Identity-building heightens sensitivity to external viewpoints. National ambition reinforces the instinct to build "from here, for here." MIT research indicates that team performance often declines when teams remain unchanged for extended periods without external input, particularly beyond the five-year mark - a timeline that aligns with many Saudi teams now entering a consolidation phase. Emerging ecosystems also experience managerial gaps where freedom is granted without the operational scaffolding required to support it.

The opportunity for Saudi Arabia lies in bypassing the inefficiencies observed in other markets' growth phases. Organisations can embed perspective-taking as structured practice, create climates where external ideas are welcomed without insecurity, rotate talent to avoid stagnation, and incorporate systematic environmental scanning rather than rediscovery. The aim is not to import solutions without context. It is to build with clarity and coherence so ambition translates into durable systems rather than duplicated effort.

The link to National Social Responsibility (NSR) is clear. NSR treats external ideas as contributions to a broader national environment rather than challenges to institutional identity. It encourages organisations and leaders to ask a simple structural question: Does this idea strengthen the wider system? When this mindset is adopted, the ecosystem benefits through alignment and reduced duplication. NSR shifts attention from personal ownership of ideas to collective responsibility for outcomes - a foundation for long-term national capability.