David Turner calls this How to Get Heard as an Executive, a five-step system: brand it, solution it, build a coalition, reduce the list, and stay consistent. Having good ideas is table stakes. Getting them adopted is the actual skill.
Most executives who feel unheard assume the problem is political: the right people aren’t listening, the organization resists change, the manager doesn’t value their view. Occasionally that’s true. More often the problem is structural. An idea that arrives unnamed, unsupported by peers, framed as a problem, and competing with nine others from the same person won’t get adopted. It isn’t ready yet.
Here is a scenario I see constantly. A VP of Product brings a compelling idea for a new product line to the CEO in a staff meeting. It’s well researched and strategically sound. The CEO listens, nods and moves on, and the idea goes nowhere. The idea had no name, so nobody could carry it forward. It led with the problem and offered the solution second, which triggered the CEO’s instinct to defer. No peers had been briefed, so nobody in the room signaled support. And it was one of four ideas the VP had raised that month.
Run it again with the framework. The VP names the initiative, writes a one-page solution brief, brings two peers in beforehand, drops the other three ideas from the agenda, and raises the named initiative in two consecutive staff meetings. By the third mention, the CEO asks for a formal proposal. Same idea, completely different outcome.
Two steps happen before you say a word in the room. Brand it: named ideas travel, unnamed ideas disappear. “The Consolidated Reporting Initiative” won’t travel. “One Dashboard” might. If you can’t name it in three words or fewer, you don’t yet know what you’re proposing. Solution it: bring a proposed path forward, even a rough one. Leaders who keep surfacing problems without solutions train the organization to tune them out.
How do I get my peers on board before I take an idea to leadership?
Make it their idea too. Pick two or three peers who would benefit from or support the initiative, bring them in early, fold in their perspective, and let them share ownership. Coalition-building before the meeting is more powerful than persuasion during it. An idea that arrives with three co-sponsors is a different conversation from one that arrives with a single advocate.
I raised an idea once and it went nowhere. Should I bring it up again?
Yes. One mention is not a campaign. The first time you raise an idea, people hear it. The second time, they consider it. The third time, they start to believe you’re serious. The fourth time, they start to own it. Repeat it across forums, formats and audiences. Leaders who raise an idea once and move on when it doesn’t catch immediately aren’t being ignored. They just haven’t repeated it enough for it to take root.
I have lots of ideas and none of them get traction. Why?
Because you’re bringing all of them. The leader who brings ten ideas gets none of them acted on. Every idea you add to the list lowers the odds that any single one gets the attention, resources and follow-through it needs. Choose the one that matters most right now and bring it with full conviction and full preparation. At VP and above, competence is assumed. That discipline is what signals judgment.
What is the honest reason your most important idea hasn’t gained traction yet: packaging, timing, coalition or consistency?
David has spent 13,400+ hours coaching CEOs and C-suite leaders at companies from $50M to $27B in revenue, and sits in on his clients’ talent reviews, where promotions are decided. Before coaching he spent 24 years in executive seats, including CEO of a PE-backed technology company and SVP of Sales & Marketing and Managing Director at DigitalGlobe. More about David