Erroneous Assumption #3: The Best Ideas Win Out
In previous posts I’ve already discussed
- Erroneous Assumption #1: The Facts Speak for Themselves, and
- Erroneous Assumption #2: Knowledge Is Power
Now I’d like to address Erroneous Assumption #3: The Best Ideas Win Out.
No one I’ve worked with has ever said stated this assumption in so many words. But many of my clients have acted as if it’s so true it doesn’t need to be articulated. They act as if all they have to do is come up with a really good idea, and that’ll be enough. When it comes time to make a presentation about their idea — to get approval, say, to start a project or to win funding for the next phase of their work — they slap something together at the last minute (usually a bunch of PowerPoint slides) and do their best. Which usually isn’t very good, since they’ve spent so little time and thought planning what they’re going to say or building support among the power players.
And then they’re amazed and disheartened when their proposal gets shot down. And what irks them most is the fact that someone else’s idea — an idea that isn’t nearly as good as their own — gets the attention and approval they think their idea deserves.
Good ideas often get ignored or passed over, while less worthy ones win attention and approval. It happens all the time.
If your idea is better than everyone else’s and someone else’s idea wins out, it isn’t that person’s fault. It’s yours. It’s your responsibility both to have a good idea and to communicate it so people 1) understand it, 2) realize its benefits, and 3) know how to act on it.
In future posts I’ll look at another aspect of winning people’s support — the politics involved. For now, do you have any reactions or questions? Have you had good ideas passed over for no good reason at all?
May 6th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Wonderfully useful series for communicators of all types, Chris. Keep up the helpful writing.
May 7th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Another great post — so true!
At the beginning of my (failed) Hollywood screenwriting (non) career, I assumed that all I needed to do was come up with brilliant ideas and bestow them on desperate movie executives. (They must be desperate for good ideas — look at the crappy movies they put out!)
What I discovered is that great ideas are the LEAST of it. EVERYONE, including that bozo in the Incredible Hulk outfit hawking photo ops in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, has great ideas. Much more important to success:
1) Friends/Allies (i.e. buyers sympathetic to you)
2) Ability to develop the idea — prove it’s a great story with sympathetic characters
3) Ability to put #1 and #2 together — form relationships with buyers based on mutual respect, and then pitch them “developed” ideas in a way that enlists them (i.e. demonstrates, in an emotional way, that they ‘can’t not’ buy this great idea)
Final Revelation — Rather than being frustrated that no one would buy my great ideas if I just showed up, I finally realized that the real sales process — very difficult, requiring determination, humility and ability to make distinctions and withstand failure — is what made the whole thing interesting.
May 12th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Steve — thanks for your support. It means a lot coming from someone whose blog is filled with such good ideas.
DrProcter — thanks for your great insights. I want to bring them into the main post so everyone can see them.
Chris