Why Good Ideas Don't Always Win

I've had some great ideas in my career. Some of them worked out. Some of them withered in my notebook, never getting further than the page they were scribbled on. And a few of them, the ones that still sting a bit, went nowhere when I raised them and then resurfaced months later under someone else's name. Different framing. Different timing. Different sponsor. Green light. (apologies to Matthew McConaughey)If you've sat with that feeling, wondering what you missed, this one is for you.The merit trapThere is a belief that the best idea wins. If your thinking is sound and your evidence is strong, the organisation will recognise it. This belief keeps talented people stuck, because it encourages them to perfect the pitch rather than doing the thing that actually moves ideas forward.The quality of your idea is the entry ticket. It gets you into the conversation. It doesn't carry the idea across the line. What does that is a different set of skills entirely, and most people never get learn…