Who's killing your best ideas?

There’s always one.

You know, that quiet person in the meeting who says very little for 40 minutes, then drops a single idea that’s miles better than anything discussed so far.

It’s smart. It’s compliant. It even has that creative spark that could (finally) make you stand out in this crazy financial jungle.

And then… it gets sent upstairs.

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A week later, it comes back covered in red ink.

Your pristine Google doc is no longer.

The edge has gone, the spark is dimmed and the campaign now looks like every other piece of safe, compliant finance content.

Why does this always seem to happen?

The thing is, it’s not just bureaucracy. It’s a textbook case of authority bias.

Authority bias is the psychological tendency to give more weight to the opinions of those in positions of power, even when it stifles innovation. In finance and fintech, where Mr. Compliance is always peering over your shoulder, authority bias is constantly in overdrive.

People defer “upwards” and in doing so, the best ideas never tend to see the light of day.

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Why authority bias matters in marketing

Psychologists first demonstrated authority bias in the 1960s with Stanley Milgram’s famous experiments, where people followed instructions from figures of authority even when they clashed with their own judgment.

In marketing, this shows up when teams water down campaigns because “the boss won’t like it” or “compliance will kill it.”

But this is basically risk aversion disguised as prudence.

Safe work that doesn’t move the needle.

Growth targets that remain just that – targets.

A 2023 Gartner survey found that 84% of marketing leaders said internal approval processes, such as too much colleague feedback and unclear decision-making from positions of authority, slow down marketing execution.

It also found that with such “collaboration drag,” revenue goals are 37% less likely to be met.

That’s not a small speed bump. It’s a full-on roadblock.

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The speed–compliance paradox

The problem that we’ve all got is that finance is tricky.

Speed is critical for growth but compliance is non-negotiable.

This tension often leads to over-correction: slowing everything down to avoid mistakes. But the irony here is that if your team never builds muscle memory for navigating compliance, they only get slower over time.

It’s like training a runner by making them walk everywhere. You’re teaching them not to adapt by telling them not to sprint.

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So, how do you fix it?

Back in the day, when I was writing investment research, everything needed to be double and triple checked by my boss, editors, investment strategists, compliance, designers…

And while that’s somewhat fair given the industry, it would often arrive back on my desk days later.

In the meantime, the stock price had changed, potentially rendering the piece less relevant.

But improvements can be made.

1. Instead of setting up a roadblock, put in guardrails. Everything doesn’t need to be run up the hierarchy. Instead, create pre-agreed compliance “zones” where marketing can move quickly without approvals.
2. Empower mid-level decision makers. Not every idea needs C-suite eyes, right? Give authority to those closest to the customer and campaign. When decisions sit closer to the work, campaigns move faster.
3. Introduce “challenge sessions”. Flip the approval process. By this, I mean why do marketers always have to ask if they can run an idea? Instead, make leaders explain why not. This reframes authority from blocker to enabler.
4. Show the cost of slowness. Numbers cut through bias. If it takes six weeks to approve a campaign, show the opportunity cost in leads lost or competitors who launched faster.

McKinsey found that more agile organisations who make faster and higher quality decisions generate:

2.5x higher growth

2.0x higher profit

30% higher return on invested capital

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A new way to grow?

The best financial marketers aren’t the ones who shout the loudest; they’re the ones who know when to push back, appropriately, strategically and with evidence.

It’s simply not the case that you have to always pick two out of speed, creativity and compliance. If you build systems that trust your people instead of choking them, you can have all three.

Authority bias doesn’t disappear overnight, but when you start to show that smarter, faster decisions don’t mean reckless ones, you’ll begin to change the culture.

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Speak soon

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