HBR Guide to Building Your Business Case (HBR Guide Series)

Chapter 4

Understand Your Audience’s Objectives

Once you know who the decision makers are, the next step is to discover what they care about most. Senior leaders are looking for projects and initiatives that fit the company’s strategy, and they’re likely to reject those that don’t.

But many managers don’t understand that, so they have trouble getting even solid business cases approved. They believe that the benefits are obvious—and neglect to align their cases with broader objectives.

Very few organizations have money or people sitting around waiting to be deployed. So when you’re making a business case, you’re inevitably competing with others for limited resources. The best way to come out on top is to explicitly demonstrate how your idea supports ...