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Simple & Pragmatic Problem Solving
#100Chapter 7: Option Selection, Execution & Control• Selection, Execution and ControlProactive, persuasive and bold (Advocacy & Persistence) ThinkingIndividual and team leadership ModeContinuous Campaign (Days to Weeks)(Fast (continuous implementation approach))

Be a Warrior When Selling Your Ideas

From the book "Advanced Problem-Solving Toolbox: 115 Creative Plays" | Compiled & Edited by: Mojtaba Goudarzi, Open translation: Mehrshid Goudarzi
Executive Synopsis & Core Logic:

of Roger Von Ock's transformative concept; Playing the fourth role of creativity, i.e. "fighter" (next to discoverer, artist and judge) to passionately defend the idea, break bureaucratic resistance and bring the idea to operational victory in the organization.

Operational Parameters & Specifications

Category
Selection, Execution and Control
Dominant Thinking
Proactive, persuasive and bold (Advocacy & Persistence)
Participation
Individual and team leadership
Estimated TimeFast (continuous implementation approach)
Continuous Campaign (Days to Weeks)
Workshop
Input Format
Approved idea, analysis of political obstacles and organizational resistance, evidence and justification data
Output Format
Successful implementation of the idea and overcoming the resistance
Key Application
Approving transformation plans in board meetings, defending startups against venture capitalists, overcoming organizational inertia and implementing new work methods.
Core Differentiator:

absolute focus on the neglected stage of "internal selling of the idea and the fight for its survival" against the conservatism of the organization, instead of just generating raw ideas on paper.

Quick Field Example:

A product manager goes to a defense meeting to approve a new AI feature that is opposed by the CFO, like a fighter with field data and ROI analysis and gets the green light to implement.

Operational Benefits & Implementation Risks

Advantages & Value Creation:

Saving brilliant ideas from dying in bureaucratic drawers, turning creativity into tangible and profitable innovation, cultivating courage and leadership in personnel.

Risks & Potential Trade-offs:

The possibility of creating political frictions with conservative managers in case of lack of soft skills and tactical flexibility.

Real-World Organizational & Industry Scenarios

Enterprise Innovation: The Technologist's Battle to Convince Traditional CIOs to Migrate to Cloud Architecture.
Startups and Fundraising: A Founder's Bold Defense of a Revenue Model Against Skeptical Investors.
Hospitals and health care: an innovative stewardship effort to replace paper records with clinical tablets.

Strategic Rationale & Why to Apply

1A good idea does not sell itself: organizations have a defensive structure that repels innovation as a foreign virus.
2The role of the fighter is the missing link: the discoverer brings the information, the artist creates the idea, the judge judges, but only the fighter brings the idea to life.
3Resistance is natural, not the end: a fighter anticipates objections and has a documented response ready for every excuse.
4Commitment to the Finish Line: The idea owner's fiery drive keeps the team going through the rough nights of implementation.

Conceptual Framework & Book Method Description

"Be a Warrior When Selling Your Ideas" (Be a Warrior When Selling Your Ideas) is a concept introduced by Roger von Oech, the author of the famous book 'A Blow to the Mind'. He showed that the innovation process includes 4 archetypes: explorer (data collection), artist (form creation), judge (critical evaluation) and finally warrior (Warrior). The task of the fighter is to equip the idea with data armor, prepare a battle plan against organizational resistance, help among the key stakeholders and stubbornly guide the idea until it is fully established in the market.

Step-by-Step Real-World Implementation Scenario

Struggle to approve and launch AI support platform in an industrial holding
1
Step 1: Accept the role of fighter and armor with dataProduct Manager drew a battle plan; Instead of an emotional defense, he extracted concrete data from 50 missed calls and projected ROI in 90 days.
2
Step 2: Lobbying and lobbying in the corridors of the organizationBefore the main meeting, he had coffee with each of the key opponents (the IT director and the CFO) and addressed their security and budget concerns in advance.
3
Step 3: Sparkling and passionate presentation at the board meetingHe injected the enthusiasm and confidence of a true fighter into the room by performing a live prototype and demonstrating a simulation of a customer conversation.
4
Step 4: Restrain the last attacks of criticsAgainst the pretext of 'server failure', he presented the emergency plan of the automatic switch to the human operator and conquered the last bastion of the resistance.
5
Step 5: Plan approval and field monitoring until establishmentThe full budget was approved; He led the team to the final launch and reduced customer response times by 65%.

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