Engaging upper management into your Idea

You may have encountered this. You have a presentation to the top guys about this brilliant idea! An idea that you think it will change and alter the way you do business or the way you create a product or the manner you provide a service or perhaps a new totally unique mechanism of doing a particular job that will dramatically cut costs. You were so optimistic.


You start the presentation and by the end of it you realized that it didn't make the impact you have imagined.

OK, currently we have limited resources, we cannot apply the idea sorry. But thanks for bringing it up! keep up the good work.

Why is that?

You have worked hard.
You have done it right.
You thought it was the ultimate idea.
But they didn't like it


When you have a interesting idea. The idea is playing in your brain and you see it clearly. But here is the punch line. They don't!

Yes people don't know why it is important. They don't know whats playing in your head. They want (in a limited amount of time) to get your idea. They are busy, they are getting calls, emails, text messages, other meetings.

You have to make them care. First you have to put them in a serious and critical situation. Describe a problem and show them statistics and charts that keep on empowering the problem. So they live in a temporary moment of fear.
Don't talk about your idea in the beginning. Leave it till the end. Let them be convinced that they are in a trouble.

Then hammer them with your fantastic idea. OK you want to solve that problem? Here is my idea.

The urgent need for a solution will leave them no choice but to pick you. Made to Stick is one of the greatest book I've ever read.

One factor of making an idea stick is to tap into peoples emotions.
There are other 5 factors in the book. Get it. It gave me the power to write this post.