The stealing of ideas is a classic office politics headache for those who are ambitious and view the uniqueness of ideas as the currency for vertical upward movement in an organisation. I found this article from BNET that makes good points on the subject. The question is…do people get ahead with brilliant ideas? Or, is it something else?

I have worked in very big political organisations as well as small businesses and have to say, I have yet to see someone achieve status in these organisations based on their new or innovative ideas. How many of you have thought you know more than your boss or have more subject knowledge in your work? That just means something else is in play.

When you work for a boss, as this article mentions, you have to make them happy and you need to have a good personal rapport with colleagues. For every Enstein who comes up with a nobel prize concept, there are millions of pretenders who think they know something others don’t. It is much more reliable for a manager to hire someone they work well with and hope clever ideas eventuate than to seek out eternal greatness.

If you are still worried about your ideas, you can email or print out and present these to people as evidence. I recommend dealing individually with several people who are part of an influence group. Once you vet your ideas with each one, then you present to the group. Beyond this, relax. If you have one good idea, you probably will come up with an even better one later.

We all get smarter with age I reckon?

Rick Speciale
MyCMO
http://www.xeesm.com/speciale