It works both ways though. Engineers can become enamored with making something novel, when what the customer actually wants is something else or already exists. Or maybe what the budget or market allows won't let the engineers make the best possible product so they're going to need to make something a bit less novel. A (good) manager will negotiate these issues.

That seems to go counter to the widely held idea of "innovate or die". If your company just wants to clone the market leader, what value are you to the customer? Management often wants "safe" so no fingers can be pointed at them. I consider that a failure in leadership.