Dr. No

Winning Over the Dr. No Boss: How to Pitch Your Good Ideas

This scene sound familiar? The lightning-bolt idea zaps you one night, then ruminates as you toss and turn. You rush into the office early the next morning (hey, you haven't slept anyway), virtually accost the boss when he arrives, blurt your idea and ... and ... and you instantly know what a star feels like entering a black hole. In just a 30-second span, he's figured out a string of reasons why your brainstorm won't work and his litany sucks the energy from the room.

If it happens once, okay. Twice, maybe. But what happens when your boss says no to your last five good ideas? Don't despair. There actually are some reasonable strategies for fixing that problem. Here's some advice from those who've been there and some experts:

Be the Company

Any good job candidate fresh out of college learns everything possible about the company to make a good impression on the decision makers. What's changed?

Go back to basics and relearn everything possible about your company. By actually studying the details, you'll be more likely to almost intuitively know what will sell to the powers that be.

One place to start the reminder process: the Web site and other company materials that espouse its values. "How can they not want to consider your idea when it flows from the values of their own mission statement," asks Mike Moore, a professional speaker from Ontario, Canada, who addresses companies and organizations across North America on maximizing employee potential.

Be the Boss

Just how much do you know about the decision makers you're trying to sell to and how they process data? Study them.

"It's important to know their personalities and how each manages data," says Andrea Nierenberg, an author and corporate training consultant who teaches "Self-marketing: A to Z" at New York University. In a prior job, she frequently had to appeal to three separate individuals who all were part of the decision-making process. "The HR person had me write it one way. Her boss, the CFO, was interested in return on investment. And the CEO wanted just one line - the bottom line. I had to appeal to each according to their personality and their style."

Adds Lyman "Manny" Steil, CEO and president of St. Paul, Minn.-based Communication Development Inc., "Sometimes people are all caught up in their idea but don't think about the other end of the stick - the boss."

Miki Dzugan, owner and president of Rapport Online Inc., also in St. Paul, explains that the style of presentation is crucial. She has worked for bosses in research, technology and academia.

"If your boss is an engineer or accountant, a page full of numbers to justify your case may be what's needed," she says. "For a boss who is more graphically oriented, you need a way to make the case through pictures. Some need the proposal in writing; others will do best if you sit down and talk through the idea."

Involve the Boss

"It's important to build an appreciation for the work that you do by creating opportunities for management to participate in your program," says Ed Shapson, a public-relations executive in Philadelphia. "If the bosses are only outsiders to your program, chances are they won't become believers."

When his work with the regional office of a national wireless-communications company was threatened recently by a companywide belt-tightening, he managed to stay on while many were fired. He credits his communication with the boss as a chief reason.

"I gave her an appreciation for what I do by involving her on a daily basis," says Shapson.

Try a Handoff

If all else fails and it's more important to see your idea put into action than getting the credit for it, here's an offbeat concept: Let the new kid on the block get the glory.

Scott Testa, COO of technology company Mindbridge, says the plan to market his company's largest selling proprietary product, Intrasmart, came up in a meeting of mostly top executives seven or eight years ago. The presentation and acceptance of the idea is what Testa calls "the eureka moment" when management, which had been planning to resell other people's products, changed course and decided to market their own instead. "It was truly a case of not seeing the forest for the trees," says Testa.

The incubator of the idea: a 19-year-old intern who had been at the company for only a couple of months, bringing a fresh perspective.