Every year I hold a quiet little funeral… There’s no service, no flowers. Just a moment of silence for the dearly departed: the brilliant ideas, the bold strategies, and the beautiful plans that never saw the light of day.
These are the ideas that died not because they were bad, but because they entered the place where good ideas go to die. We all know it… it’s a place built from the best intentions, but it’s a organisational graveyard no doubt about it.
So, what are the causes of death?
The ghost of a vision: The idea was born from a clear vision, but that vision was a ghost, haunting the office cubicles. Everyone had heard of it, but no one had ever actually seen it, and it certainly never showed up to a meeting or to approve the pending plans.
The silent leadership veto: The idea was loved by the team, but it was quietly and mysteriously suffocated by a lack of leadership buy-in. No one ever said “no,” but the silence was the final cause of death.
Lost in the labyrinth of sign-offs: The idea was agile but it got lost in a organisational maze of approvals. Its last known whereabouts were somewhere between the legal team, marketing manager, and a product manager who was on leave for two weeks (or unknown period).
Starved of time: The idea was full of potential, but it was left to starve, neglected in the face of a thousand other “urgent” priorities.
As agency partners, we are often the chief mourners at these funerals. We craft these ideas with our clients, we pour our energy and love into them, and then we watch as they succumb to internal forces beyond our control.
This isn’t a post with solutions… well not yet… it’s just a moment of remembering the fallen heroes who never saw the light.
Rest in Peace, Planned ideas.
By Jacqueline Mayer (Boulos), Communications Strategist and Founder of InnoComm
