Who Delivers Your Message?

It took me awhile to learn that choosing the right messenger to deliver a message can be as important as the message itself.  What I'm talking about here is presenting your idea to a senior to gain their support or acceptance.  Sometimes they want to believe they came up with the great idea on their own.  So picking the right person to deliver your idea can become a critical step in the process. Without the right person delivering it, your idea/message may languish in the "GREAT IDEAS MUST DIE" bin.  If you carefully search your boss's office, you may find such a bin where the boss collects all the great ideas that he's killed. Beware of the overflowing bin.

The science behind all this is called cognitive science.  These cognitive scientists have demonstrated time and time again that what is being said may actually matter far less than who is saying it. Getting you idea accepted by the boss thus may depend on selecting the right Shipmate, the right settings, and the right time for getting your idea to escape the "GREAT IDEAS MUST DIE bin. 

I, along with many of my Shipmates have learned this the hard way, through trial and error. Some call this "lessons learned".  If they are called lessons learned, how come we never seem to learn anything?

Consider that sometimes the best messenger may be someone outside your normal peer group. Find someone that has been an activist in our cryptologic who has been working on the front lines for decades. If you don't want your idea to end up in the GREAT IDEAS MUST DIE bin be intentional about choosing a messenger who is viewed with trust, respect and the appropriate level of authority on your issue.  Try it.  It works.