While partnerships are a powerful catalyst for innovation, any ground-breaking idea can be derailed in infancy without the crucial buy-in it requires. Whether in finance, technology, healthcare or virtually any industry, innovation and transformative ideas are often preceded by initial waves of skepticism. Some resistance is rooted in the status quo, some is a reaction to hype and some is triggered by fake news and disinformation.

A panel of pioneers and early adopters across various industries convened to discuss overcoming these obstacles, including: Anne Walsh, Chief Investment Officer – Fixed Income at Guggenheim Investments; Robert Shiller, Nobel Prize-winning economist and the Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University; Mark Thompson, President & CEO of the New York Times; and Dr. Alfred Spector, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Engineering at Two Sigma. The panel, hosted in the Goal 17 space, was moderated by Steve Levine, Future Editor of Axios.

Anne Walsh described her experience convincing skeptical clients to exit potentially risky investments. “I’m not naturally a skeptic but as an analyst it’s my responsibility on behalf of my clients to pay attention to data and not make the data meet my previously informed worldview.” Concepts in investing such as ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investing have also been met with skepticism, Walsh described. “The way we’re educating our investors is to talk about what ESG is relative to what it isn’t. ESG investing is looking at risk elements – what’s environmental risk, what’s social risk, what’s governance risk. As we continue to evolve in terms of the consistency of the standards in ESG, I think my clients are going to begin to really understand it. I have to admit that I was a skeptic on this as well, and now I’m embracing ESG investing for my clients.”

Skepticism in journalism is a prerequisite for high quality reporting but can slow business innovation as the industry continues to evolve. Mark Thompson discussed his role in pushing beyond the New York Times’ legacy print business to build a successful digital platform. “Anyone who looked at the numbers could tell you in five minutes that the economics for print media were going to deteriorate. Early on I used the metaphor of the Titanic – you have to build your future quicker than your past is sinking.” New York Times podcast ‘The Daily’ now reaches 1 in 2 millennials every month. “We first had to go back and revisit lots of ideas we’d half-tried,” he said. “If you want dramatic results, you have to make dramatic changes.”

According to Alfred Spector, even in the rapidly evolving technology industry, skepticism has been a hurdle. “Computers have become one trillion times what they were in 1960, a growth factor that has never been seen before in any other industry. During this time the National Academy of Engineering predicted repeatedly that we would need to invest more in security. Yet industry heads of sales or CEOs didn’t believe that consumers would pay for security,” he said. “In the realm of consumer, it’s very difficult to get people to think long term.”

Robert Shiller, “one of the most famous skeptics out there,” as Levine described him, discussed his early prediction of the 2008 financial crisis. “No economist ever thought of collecting data on how housing prices have moved over a long period of time. If you correct for inflation, there was no increase in U.S. home prices between 1890 and 1990. The narrative was always that housing was scarce and was going to go up. People believe what they want to believe.”

How do we get better at contending with skepticism to drive progress 2019? “We’ll get better at persuasion on topics like climate change if we accept that identity and emotion and fear all play a part,” said Thompson. “The psychological barriers of being in a place for a long time, not believing change is possible, are very hard to overcome.”

According to Robert Shiller, empathy is the key to moving forward. “We have to be more respectful and kindhearted towards people with different views than ours, and I think eventually we’ll get it right.”