You have to balance the risk of being late with the need to try new things. Constant incremental improvements are good. Radical surgery is something a company can tolerate only occasionally. They'll turn down dead-end jobs that bring no more benefit for the company than cash. Projects are selected and planned to insure that each one improves the business's competencies.
Every company needs a certain amount of leading edge work designed to push the envelope.
Mitigate risk by limiting the scope or importance of these projects, but do try different things. This means that everyone involved is committed to code recycling, from the CEO to the janitor. If your manager is not beating a reuse drum, keeping the entire team's vision focused on this critical goal, then reuse will be abandoned the first time a ship date nears. Don't assume management has your best interests at heart. If you are caught in an intellectual backwater, work hard outside of the business to stay up to snuff on all of the latest technology, since today's whiz bang idea will be the base level of competition tomorrow.