Question

Yahoo!'s mobile team didn't have an executive champion to protect and nurture the team during the pioneering phase when financial results couldn't be realized. It couldn't show substantial results, so managers were reassigned. This is an example of: a. social engineering b. the Creosote Bush effect c. overspending on unproven projects d. the options portfolio of innovation

Answer 1

Answer: b. the Creosote Bush effect

Explanation: The creosote bush effect occurs when a project/individual is so toxic that it kills everything around it. It got its name from the creosote bush which grows in the desert and kills off surrounding vegetation by shedding its leaves to gain competitive advantage for water.

Projects and companies can get so big that innovation or developing new ideas becomes a problem. A way to prevent this is to have a champion who nurture and pioneers the project. If it is impossible to achieve the the goal of the project, it can quickly poison everything around it.

Yahoo! prevented this by stopping the project and reassigned.