Ironically, this is why one of the best ways to manage upwards is to prompt managers into coming up with your idea as if it were their own: they’re dramatically more likely to execute and deliver on it. Of course, this also obviously leads to undue credit given for coming up the idea, which is certainly a core problem with AI as well, but it’s still charming to watch managerial psych being rediscovered by this new generation of managers.
Nothing beats the feeling of having a proposed idea dismissed just to have the higher ups “come up” with it some time later. Don’t even dream about getting a footnote mention.
That’s the passive form of the experience, sure — and it often comes as a shock to people that this is a thing in human relations. If you set out to make it happen, and you don’t mind letting someone else execute on the idea, it can be quite fun to manipulate people into an epiphany you arranged for them. (See also teaching, coaching, et al. but with a flipped power differential.)
