Timing sucks

People can’t tell if you are early or wrong.

Wall Street Saying

Squid Games is the story of hundreds of down-on-their-luck people getting involved in a series of games that could win them riches or cost them their lives.

We all know it as a huge international hit. Obviously, the first people that got a chance to read the script knew immediately that it would be a hit.

Nope.

The second studio obviously was the smart one and saw its potential.

Nope.

The creator of Squid Games Hwang Dong-hyuk got rejected for 10 years before Netflix took a chance on him and his story.

Timing Matters

You might be right, your idea might change the world and be the best thing ever, but sometimes your ideas aren’t ready for prime time. Not that they aren’t great ideas but that decision-makers don’t see the value in them.

The big challenge isn’t being right, the big challenge is getting your idea across the line effectively.

(Sidebar: something I have struggled with a lot. In one place I worked I put in some new initiatives that were not welcomed by management. 10 years later they are company-wide and I was not at the company nor did I get any credit for it. I was right, I was not effective.)

Baby Steps

The Wachowski Sisters didn’t get hundreds of millions of dollars to make The Matrix, they got a few million to make Bound. Even though they already had the idea for The Matrix and scripts ready they had to take smaller steps to make the higher-ups happy.

The success of Bound allowed them the chance to do the movie they wanted to do.

Even though your idea is majestic and powerful, it might be overwhelming.

Can you break your idea into smaller bits and get something over a line to start with?

Even though it feels like it all needs to be done, getting some positive moments with parts of your ideas will give more credibility to the next one.

It is not their fault

The people making the decisions aren’t bad people, they may just be risk-averse. They want to keep the status quo, it has got them this far, why would they change?

You can’t approach them as an enemy, but they are a challenge you need to get on your side.

As the great screenwriter William Goldman said in his book Adventures in the Screen Trade – “Nobody knows anything…… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.”

They aren’t trying to stop you (well they might, some bosses are terrible), they just don’t know any better. Approach them with kindness and start small.