Say Nay to Nay Sayers
ThinkSolveDo
No one gets fired for saying "NO" to a project. And this is
especially true at large businesses and banks. You must be able to
recognize legitimate concerns as opposed to people saying no for other
reasons. Your success depends on it.
When a person says, "NO", to a project or idea they may be doing it
for one or more of the following reasons...
1. They think it will fail.
2. They do not like you.
3. They are jealous of you.
4. It will make more work for them.
5. It will make less work for them and might cost them their job.
6. They did not think of it.
7. They are too busy with other projects.
8. They do not understand it.
9. Money is not available to fund it.
10. It will interfere with projects they have interests in.
Plus many more!
But none of these mean your idea or project will not work. They simply
mean the person telling you "NO" is not or will not support it.
Many people said heavier than air craft could not fly, horseless
carriages were a passing fad and even who needs a computer in their
home. But these people were wrong. That is what you must consider when
deciding IF YOU believe the project should move ahead.
At a tradeshow a woman told me she wanted only cutting edge products
because that is all her company sold. We showed her what we had and she
told us she wanted to get them out right away. When we ask how soon
that would be she told us "2 years". We told her this product will
be old in 2 years and will have been replaced by later versions. How
can you sell leading edge products 2 years AFTER everyone else is
already selling them? It makes no sense but to her company and her it
was genius (they have since gone out of business).
If you believe in your idea then you champion it. Bring it to the stage
that it can be used and sold and so it lives up to the dream that it is
meant to. Then pull out all stops, full the furnace with coal, the
boiler with water and turn it up on high. It will either blast onto the
market as a success or explode in your face but most times you will
make it succeed. And when you begin to have doubts see if they are real
or simply unfounded worries. If they are real fix them, but if they are
simply worries then kill them.
Innovators need to be smart and also have a thick skin. I celebrated a
company rejecting one of my inventions recently and my kids asked why I
was so happy. I had to explain to them that when you get enough
rejections eventually someone will say yes. The real fear to have is to
have no one considering your project at all.