If you were the CEO…

Say, you are the CEO or VP of your organization and you have a seriously cool idea to implement. What do you do? Maybe the following…

1) Gather some people who can implement this idea (Maybe directors, other VPs, Staff Managers, etc) and talk to them.

2) Hire people/interns who can explore the idea.

3) Push people to get these things done. If the idea ends up what you visualized, convince your bosses (board of directors) of a possible product based on this.

If I say that as an employee, you can still do the same, you might be giving me _are_you_insane?_ look. So, instead of seeing what CEOs/VPs do, let us rewrite the above tasks:

1) They get support of masses

2) They build momentum and prototype

3) They give it away and encourage (force) people to use it and later show the traction to their bosses.

Implementing an idea is principally same everywhere at any level in an organization. The biggest difference is the way of persuasion. A CEO or VP can use authority to persuade people to accept his/her idea. A “junior” employee does not have the same luxury. Hence, he has to woo people to get his support. Wooing can be by means of effective communication or playing politics or gathering friends and admirers, etc. However, the first step is to create something of substance (prototyping the idea). Then, giving it away for people to use it. I cannot emphasize the importance of giving your inventions or ideas for the global (in this case, corporate) good. It does not mean that you give away your raw idea. To be honest, an idea is not worth anything unless it is in a digestible form. Digestible form is a prototype, or even beyond that! If you are visualizing a new software that can revolutionize your field, work silently towards creating a beta version. When it is ready, invite your peers to use it. These people are going to be your evangelists.