By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you break down inherent barriers to your ideas.

The idea was sound. The hard-working, highly competent manager checked his facts. He had the documentation. He presented his idea clearly and concisely. No one could refute the thinking process or the expected results.

The idea worked elsewhere. It could work here. It should work here. It will work here, he assured anyone and everyone. Yet most of the decision-makers in the company he needed to persuade remained poker faced even though they saw that indeed the company could benefit from his idea.

But his idea never got off the ground, even though he had done the proper research, even though he had earned third-party endorsement from his peers outside the company. What happened? Why didn’t his idea fly?

Perhaps this highly competent manager forgot to EARN THE RIGHT to present a new idea beyond his credentials, expertise and education. I have been in the shoes of this highly competent manager. I learned the hard way that when no one is buying your well researched, well thought-out idea, when the deck seemed stacked against you, the most persuasive leaders play their ACE.

ACE-Acknowledge, Coordinate and Enhance — is a three-step persuasion process. Continue reading →