Have you even been in a situation when you have thought of an idea but that idea has been rejected outright by your friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, network, teacher, professor, investors or your boss?
And you have always wondered why are they not able to see the potential outcome or the change in can bring in the world?
If you have faced this kind of a situation then you are not the first one. Every day hundreds or even thousand such ideas get killed in Board rooms, Class rooms, coffee shops, metros and everywhere.
Have you even thought of a potential reason of this hard rejection or non acceptance?
Well there are certain reasons which I have been to accumulate from my own experiences and from other which I would like to share. All the readers are free to add their points to the same.
Wrong timing
Been into a situation when you friend starts telling you something in the middle of a movie and you were least interested in listening to him?
Problem: Wrong timing
That is exactly what we do sometimes with the idea. When an idea strike to the mind, we tend to share it instantly without realizing the environment or the state of mind of the person with whom we are going to share it and hence we face a rejection.
Always evaluate the situation or the environment before sharing the “great idea” and the best time to do this is when the person whom you are going to share is in the “mode of listening” rather than talking or questioning.
Ignorance of negative aspects / Feedbacks
The ideator (One who has thought of an idea) rarely sees the negative side of the idea at the initial stages. And when we share it with others, many listeners expose us to the other side of the coin. It could be from their previous experience or a general trend which they have observed somewhere.
Never ignore this, don’t implement or inculcate their point of view instantly but do keep them in your list of “Things to remember” and if this response gets repeated multiple time from others then its a validation of the earlier response.
Past record of the Ideator
If you have a history of coming up with great ideas, implementing them and failing consistently then it is highly possible that people might reject your next big idea as well. The evident reason for this is the past record which forms a negative perception in their mind about you capability.
If this happens, prepare better, try recollecting the mistakes made earlier, don’t repeat them ever after. Think of potential risks/problems with the current idea and be prepared with a solution to tackle them.
Lastly, do all the ground work before even sharing the idea and if situation allows, don’t share the idea at all as it will invite more negative energy only. A basic test run yourself or over the net with like minded community could be a better alternate.
Lack of structured approach
Great ideas are like stories, they tend to fit within the life naturally or themselves become the reason to define life around it. For example, try recollecting how many times you have told your friend about liking someone’s image or post or any other activity on Facebook? (Facebook is also just an idea which has integrated in people’s life and create everyday stories)
So, when an idea is presented, it is important to come up with a story or a structure to explain the role or part played by the idea in the completion of that story. Also explain the potential outcomes of the story without your idea being a part of it. A well defined structure is critical to the acceptance of an idea.
Bad Presentation
Last but the most important aspect is how an idea is being presented. Not everyone gets a chance to do an elevator pitch and not everyone meets the future investor in a pub.
In today’s age of technology, presentations have become the new weapon of expression and people tend to share everything in presentations.
Audiences are bored of same old styles of presentation and there have been sprawling concepts like “Death by PowerPoint” which have created a need to completely reinvent how presentations are to be designed & delivered.
A lot of ideas get rejected because the audience or the listener gets bored with the ugly presentations and tends to bring the discussion or session to an end.
To counter this, spend sometime to work on an amazingly structured presentation. It can really can give wings to your idea and will help you generate the required interest within your targeted audience. Learn how to make good presentation and if you can’t then try looking for some good templates which can help you achieve this faster.
If all the above mention points can be taken care of then the probability of rejection for a great idea will be least and you might get a chance to change the world :)
Written by: Aayush Jain
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