One of the biggest reservations to innovation in heavily-regulated industries is the legal grey areas or even restrictions on deviations from the accepted practices. Leaders feel rightly concerned that on top of the expense and adoption risks that comes with innovative solutions in general, there might be regulative challenges that would bring the entire initative to a halt.
It takes a special kind of leader to take this triple risk on themselves. Typically in corporate structures executives tend to be risk-averse and prioritize development of their own careers to big uncertain moves, which makes the issue of innovation that much more difficult.
I have a lot of respect for organizations who have the courage to step into grey areas with new solutions – that is the only way to change the status quo. Uber is a great example of such a move: they didn't wait for the regulatory environment to become more favorable to their business model, they implemented their idea and in many cases the regulation followed.
It often takes the public to see the benefits of your solution before they celebrate it.
