Rebels at Work

Appendix A. How Well Do You Know Your Organization?

Your success as a rebel in part depends on how well you understand your organization, as described in Chapter 4. If you can answer the following questions, you are well on your way to understanding how to position your idea.

Goals and Vision

How can you show that your rebel idea supports the organization’s goals, mission, vision, or values?

• What are the organization’s expressed goals or objectives? What goals are most revered—formally or informally?
• What is the organization’s philosophy, vision, or purpose? What does it stand for and why does it exist?
• What stories have become legends? What makes the story worth retelling? Are there elements that people would love to recapture? Does the story shine a light on what people really value? Can you make your idea part of this story?
• What does the organization value the most, formally and informally? Risk or certainty? Speed or thorough analysis? Challenging assumptions about thinking or upholding standards? Finding new opportunities or focusing on scaling what exists? What is the organization committed to not losing?

Decision Making

What do you need to know about how people make decisions so that you can properly position the idea with people who need to be in the loop?

• Which influential people tend to support what kinds of new programs?
• Who influences whom?
• Who in the organization gets new ideas or projects approved? What helps him get support? Is it the idea? If so, what is appealing ...