What that meant, Belsky observed, is that the staff either parroted back what Welch had said or appeared to agree with his ideas whether or not they actually did.

“If he had not done that, he would have heard some wacky ideas from the newcomers, some ideas from other perspectives from others and he might have heard someone who already had the idea he had as well,” Belsky said.

Belsky's talk focused on what organizations and individuals can do to keep the good ideas they might have from being swallowed up by day-to-day pressures and concerns. Ideas ranged from further tweaking ideas that already work well to identifying the different roles colleagues play in fostering or failing to foster ideas.

The challenge an organization has, Belsky explained in a question-and-answer session afterwards, is to both address the things that genuinely need to be urgent, pare down the things that don't and then focus on the long term important.

“The ATMs have to run,” he pointed out, “so that is necessarily urgent. But are there things that are not so urgent that can be discarded so that you can work on longer term ideas that are very important?”

Also from THINK 13:

• Virtual Teller Idea Wins THINK Prize 13
• The Great Change Debate
• THINK 13 on Wednesday: Slide Show
• Starring on Google+
• Mayor Booker Keynotes on Change
• Innovation That Maintains Identity
• Innovation Needs Controls
• THINK 13 on Tuesday: Slide Show
• Self-Assessment First Step in Innovation
• CO-OP Rebrands ATM, Branching Networks
• Chicago Confab Kicks Off