• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Exclusive

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

Commentary

Proof even the best business ideas get ripped apart

By
Jodi Cerretani
Jodi Cerretani
and
Bethany Cianciolo
Bethany Cianciolo
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jodi Cerretani
Jodi Cerretani
and
Bethany Cianciolo
Bethany Cianciolo
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 13, 2015, 11:00 AM ET
Courtesy of MobileDay

MPW Insider is an online community where the biggest names in business and beyond answer timely career and leadership questions. Today’s answer for: How do you get buy in for a new idea? is written by Jodi Cerretani, senior director of marketing at MobileDay.

In an ideal world, every idea put forth would be perfectly mapped out, with every detail in place and each potential objection considered and countered. In the startup world, however, I seldom have this luxury and instead take a more agile approach to get buy in from my colleagues.

Rather than fully developing a concept and presenting it at its endpoint, I believe the best ideas are fostered when team members are presented with an idea in its rawest form and then asked for input to complete it. This is often the most time-efficient process, which can be especially important for a small team responsible for tackling many projects.

Trust your team enough to involve them off the bat
In a startup, lack of focus can make or break the company, let alone a single idea. If no one agrees on the direction, the ensuing lack of focus can waste time and prevent the appropriate solution from being executed. However, when people have been included and asked for feedback right at the beginning of the process, it’s their own ideas that will be represented in the final phases of the developed concept. So when implementation does occur, everyone on the team is almost guaranteed to be headed in the same direction.

In a rapidly evolving and growing business, you need to create, implement and iterate ideas quickly. The most effective initiatives are often generated when you have a variety of stakeholders with multiple viewpoints collaborating. Not only will the team feel more involved, but it can boost long-term team morale, foster a greater sense of purpose within the organization, and help to formulate that winning idea efficiently.

See also: Here’s how to make sure your next ideas meeting isn’t a total fail

A good team consists of people whose individual characteristics complement one another. One person may be more detail focused, another more customer orientated, another more creative, etc. By harnessing and nurturing the team dynamic — without necessarily taking the lead or dominating the brainstorm — you can all work toward a shared goal and achieve more in less time than you could on your own.

Be brave enough to present a half-baked concept
The tricky part here is that you have to foster a culture where it’s okay to go to your team with an unpolished idea. For some companies — or type-A personalities — this can be a challenge in itself. However, in the long run, it can be costly in terms of time and energy to spend days fully flushing out a concept only to scrap it in your initial team brainstorm. In a startup, where there are so many things going on, it is vital that time is not wasted over-developing ideas that are still in their infancy. Presenting your team with a young idea is sometimes the most efficient way to ultimately determine feasibility, create an action plan, and move it toward execution.

Be prepared to scrap your idea entirely
Asking for feedback early on presents a greater risk that your idea will be ripped apart and reinvented right in front of you, and that’s okay — necessary, even. I might have what I think is a great idea, but I’ll know for sure only after I’ve fleshed it out with the team. I know that an initiative with feedback from the whole team will ultimately result in something fruitful. It is this knowledge, coupled with a lot of trust, that allows my ego to step aside so that the best idea —not necessarily mine — can win.

Startup culture is all about teamwork. When a team functions optimally, collaborations are energizing and inspiring — it’s what fuels efficient innovation and pushes a company to continually evolve. By capitalizing on this powerful dynamic, there is less need for deliberate attempts at buy in, because “the best idea” has almost always been “our idea.”

Read all responses to the MPW Insider question: How do you get buy in for a new idea?

Why managers need to stop sugar-coating the truth by Perry Yeatman, CEO of Perry Yeatman Global Partners.

How this CEO keeps her employees coming back after maternity leave by Gay Gaddis, CEO and founder of T3.

The number one way to motivate employees by Karen Quintos, CMO of Dell.

 

About the Authors
By Jodi Cerretani
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Bethany Cianciolo
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Commentary

altman
CommentarySam Altman
Musk vs. Altman: AI safety cannot be one man’s job
By Stavros GadinisMay 18, 2026
4 hours ago
charlie
CommentarySoftware
Anaplan CEO: AI isn’t eating software. It’s sorting it
By Charlie GottdienerMay 18, 2026
14 hours ago
shyam
CommentaryHealth
World Economic Forum: women’s health gets only 20% of R&D funding. We must seize this $1 trillion opportunity
By Shyam BishenMay 18, 2026
22 hours ago
murdochs
CommentaryMedia
OpenAI paid $100 million for a talk show. James Murdoch is eyeing an even bigger deal. The hot new asset class is humanity
By Lin CherryMay 17, 2026
2 days ago
dennis
CommentaryAI agents
Freshworks CEO: why agile enterprises are winning the AI race — and what they did differently
By Dennis WoodsideMay 17, 2026
2 days ago
Mary Moreland-Abbott Executive Vice President of Human Resources.
CommentaryRetirement
Gen X is the most indebted generation in America. Their employers can fix that
By Mary MorelandMay 17, 2026
2 days ago

Most Popular

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
6 days ago
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
AI
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
3 days ago
The top foreign holders of U.S. debt may soon dump Treasury bonds and bring their money back home, potentially spiking borrowing costs
Economy
The top foreign holders of U.S. debt may soon dump Treasury bonds and bring their money back home, potentially spiking borrowing costs
By Jason MaMay 17, 2026
1 day ago
SpaceX heads into a record-shattering IPO with the 'deepest moat that exists today' as investors vow to 'never bet against Elon'
Innovation
SpaceX heads into a record-shattering IPO with the 'deepest moat that exists today' as investors vow to 'never bet against Elon'
By Jason MaMay 16, 2026
2 days ago
Mamdani's New York is coming to tax your private jet. Here's how to prepare
Personal Finance
Mamdani's New York is coming to tax your private jet. Here's how to prepare
By Greg RaiffMay 16, 2026
3 days ago
While Trump insisted the Iran war would end ‘soon,’ an account in his name was buying millions in oil, defense and gold
Economy
While Trump insisted the Iran war would end ‘soon,’ an account in his name was buying millions in oil, defense and gold
By Eva RoytburgMay 18, 2026
7 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.