Power Play #14: Get behind other people's ideas

Each day entrepreneur Rose Herceg presents a how-to power tip that challenges the typical Machiavellian theories of power. This is the Power Playbook: your quick-fix guide to influencing people …in a good way.

Power Play #14: Get behind other people's ideas

Power Players get behind other people's good ideas. If you hear a good idea from someone, use your power to help them make it real.

There are few things that will build your influence more than lending weight to an idea whose time has come, and doing whatever is required to bring it to life.

I sat in a big honcho meeting with the head of a magazine publishing company. It was the early days of the internet and the CEO was bemoaning the problem of protecting their copyright. The trainee in the room – in his first month at the company at the ripe old age of nineteen years old – spoke up.

He said that in this age of digital content, the magazine company should consider promoting the sending and sharing of content instead of trying to stop it, given that it would happen anyway. The kid's boss, a mean lady in a bad suit and cheap shoes, scowled at him for speaking up.

The CEO looked the kid in the eye, paused and said, "That's a bloody great idea". The CEO honcho then made sure that every editor, writer and publisher of each of his magazines used every conceivable opportunity to promote the sharing of their content. Turns out this tactic breathed new life into the publications and increased their newsstand sales considerably.

The CEO let everyone know that the idea belonged to the kid. And the lady with the cheap shoes? Fired for stealing six thousand dollars worth of office supplies. The kid? Today he's General Manager of a Pay TV channel.