How to Get Senior Executives to Take Your Ideas Seriously

How do you get others to listen to your ideas in business or corporate when you're young?

You don't. You get someone senior to feed them your idea for you. At least, that's how I do it.

If you're like me - ambitious and making your way through your twenties - I'm sure you've felt the frustration of pushing against the "old guard." When you try to pitch ideas or get your thought process implemented, there’s almost always doubt cast over you, or you’re simply not taken seriously.

In my sector, I deal with this all the time. The board of directors who bought out my IP still present a struggle when I try to get them to take my ideas on in their completeness. This even applies when I dip back into the entrepreneurial world. I see problems presented to me that I can either solve or get the right team to solve - but as seems to be the norm, nobody particularly wants to put their faith in a young person to handle a "serious" thing.

To be honest, if I were in my 50s or 60s, would I want to listen to someone in their mid-20s or early 30s either? Probably not.

So how do we as ambitious people still attack our goals while we're young? I find it best to get a trusted senior leader in corporate - or a trusted leader in the entrepreneurial world - to make the connection for you and act as the face that the older crowd will actually listen to.

No matter whether you think it's right or wrong, the reality is that 90% of the time, surrounded by older adults, you won't be taken as seriously as you'd like. That fact isn't going to change. I imagine it's human nature to be wary of what the young are capable of. Look at it realistically: in their eyes, you simply don't have the years of experience behind you. No matter what you think, that won't change.

So you might as well learn how to work with the world you live in, opposed to how you think it should be.

How to pitch ideas to older executives

Comparing this to a Trojan horse might sound aggressive, but look at it for the top-level story it is: you simply need someone to get the idea past the gates for you. Once that's done, it's yours to conquer.

In the corporate world, this can simply be a senior leader or manager you trust. But like most good dealings you should do, ensure the person doing this for you receives a hand in the reward. At the minimum, you need to ensure you can deal with others getting praise for your work, especially if they act as the face of it.

I see this in my corporate world on a week-to-week basis. I know it's faster for me to propose a strong idea to a more "trusted" senior leader and have them push for it to be implemented, opposed to me trying to convince the room on my own.

As long as you are tied into the reward at the end, I'd argue why does it matter who gets the praise. But we are all human at the end of the day, and if you're like me, you're going to have to manage your ego.

It sounds easy on paper to "not care who gets the praise," but if you're ambitious, it's easier said than done. Especially if you're hustling hard, it can be irritating to see others propose your ideas and get buy-in when you've been mentioning it or thinking it over for an extended period of time.

How to close deals when you have no track record

Getting buy-in in the entrepreneurial world is similar to corporate, but I believe it runs on trust and relationships. As much as it's easier to get a longer-term senior member in the office to advocate for my idea, it's far better to have someone who's known a contact for 15 years be your advocate in this world.

I am experiencing this at the moment. I am aware of a problem within a sector, I have the connections and a team to build a solution, but I'm trying to work a distribution channel contact who's been in the industry longer than I've been alive.

So what's the solution? I'm channeling my solution idea through someone who has known him for 35 years. He doesn't have to come to trust me or go through a dozen meetings to flush me out, given the person I've elected to be the face of the conversation trusts my execution (which is essential).

I've got the idea to pass through someone he trusts, and within a week I have a demo and an agreed distribution channel. As mentioned in the corporate world, ensure you've agreed to give a piece of the pie to the person acting as your trusted face.

How to get your ideas approved without fighting the system

To turn this into a usable framework, ensure you consider these solutions whenever you face pushback or a slowdown:

Have someone else who's trusted be the face of the idea. As long as you're tied into the reward at the end, arguing company value and what not is great - but at the end of the day, you're playing this game for yourself, so ensure you get a piece of the action.

Always look after your elected middle man. This comes down to good business. If someone's going to push an idea for you, ensure they are getting a piece of the pie as well. If everyone can win, then it's an easier sell when you ask a senior or a trusted contact to push for you.

Ego management is essential. It'll most likely always irritate you partly, but just get the idea through and reap the rewards.

Don't complain about the world we live in - just play the cards you are dealt. Sure it's "unfair" to not take young people's ideas seriously, but the world's not fair and you're dealing with human instinct. You have to accept that getting buy-in from almost anyone is harder when you are younger. But remember, you're not young forever - and eventually, you will be the one getting pitched by someone in their mid-20s or early 30s.

As I learn more and work out solutions to these roadblocks as they appear, I’ll update the framework and add links to new articles here.

NOTE: I mention having a strong team in this article, which you can read about here: Why You Need a Team to Grow Beyond Your Own Ceiling