You believe in a good idea. You know it could make a crucial difference
for you, your organization, your community. You present it, hoping for
enthusiastic support. Instead, you get confounding questions, inane
comments, and verbal bullets. Before you know what's hit you, your idea
is dead, shot down.
It doesn't have to be this way, say John Kotter and Lorne Whitehead. In
Buy-In, they reveal how to protect good ideas and win the support needed
to deliver valuable results. The key? Understand the unfair attack
strategies that naysayers, nitpickers, and handwringers deploy with
great success time and time again:
- Death by delay: Endlessly putting off or diverting
- discussion of your idea until all momentum is lost
- Confusion: Presenting so much distracting information that confidence
in your proposal dies
- Fear mongering: Stirring up irrational anxieties about your idea
- Character assassination: Undermining your reputation and credibility
Through the device of a fresh and amusing fictional narrative, the
authors vividly show how avoiding or attempting to quash attackers
doesn't work. According to their counterintuitive approach, it's far
better to respectfully engage these adversaries and stand your ground
with simple, convincing responses that save the day. By "inviting in the
lions" to critique your idea, and preparing yourself for what they'll
throw at you, you'll capture busy people's attention. You'll help them
grasp your proposal's value. And you'll secure their commitment to
implementing the solution--winning their minds and hearts.
Smart, practical, and brimming with useful advice, Buy-In equips you
to anticipate attacks and turn them to your advantage--so your good idea
survives to make a positive change.
