Are you a senior-level manager? Have you ever had a brilliant idea for a new product, a significant diversification plan, or a new market? Of course you have. Typically you spend a few days thinking about this and you make some hand-written notes. You might even crank out some slides with nice graphics. Then you take this up your chain of command to only be crushed and told something along these lines:

• "Have you considered the cost of building this new product? And revenue is not guaranteed",
• "This diversification does not fit our current business model",
• "This will be too distracting and we will lose our focus as a company", or
•"That market has major competitors and we will need a $100 million investment".

As you walk back to your office, bitter thoughts about the senior staff race through your head, and you are depressed that the company seems to be lumbering along because the senior staff is unwilling to do anything. You are sure the company's declining sales will be a major crisis soon, as products age with no real innovation in the pipeline. No one seems to be doing anything about it. If you distance yourself from your current emotional state and objectively examine the situation; you might find some truth everywhere. You are right; the idea might just be a great one. Your upper management is also right; this would be a distraction or be an unproven product or market. And you could be right again; they are being a stick-in-the-mud and dislike risk. So where do you find the wax to polish your truth?
They are walking the company’s hallways. Your colleagues. If you believe there is merit to your idea, then starting to talk to more people is the best strategy. It will take many lively white-board debates on the topic before you will have a more complete understanding ofyour idea. Find colleagues at your level to keep the discussion open and frank. Include people from as many departments as possible. Talk to at least 15 people. Walk over to their office and ask if they will spare you 30 minutes to discuss something you have been thinking about. If you are not heatedly discussing this for 45- 60 minutes then either the idea did not catch their fancy or it is not a great one. Create an excel spreadsheet of who talked to you, for how long, and what were their main points. Do not worry about naysayers. Follow up the one-on-ones with email clarifications and start a conversation rolling with fifteen people. Keep track of how many went back to their office and shot back an email first, showing their interest.

If you have real discussions with fifteen people then you are ready to sum up the interest level and feasibility of your new idea. You are now ready to take it "up" again. In fact, why did you not do this before you took it "up" the first time?