your boss doesn't like you or he has a preconceived notion that your idea will fail. Regardless of the reasons, you may still feel that the idea should be heard and want the opportunity to present it. In this case, the proper thing to do is to ask permission from your direct manager to propose the idea to his boss. You may be surprised at the response-he may be happy to be able to palm you off on a supe- rior. If he says "no," you may be suffering under a boss who doesn't want to rock the boat. Going around your boss to talk to his boss is not politically smart, but if you believe strongly in your idea and feel that he is squelching it, this may be the only available path. No surprises Do not spring the fact in a meeting that the network will fail in 18 minutes. Tell your boss ahead of time. In fact, tell your boss, and let him tell the group in the meeting. If there is one sure way to make enemies in the business world, it's to blindside people in front of their peers. What is it that managers, directors, VPs, and officers of the company need to know? More often than not, it's how much you need to spend, how long your idea will take to implement, and your justification for the expense. If you need to spend money that wasn't budgeted, you'd better have a good explanation, because if you don't, you won't get a dime. Vice presidents don't want to hear that you can't do your job because you don't have a Nexus 7018 switch next to your desk. They want to know how to keep their bosses (often the stockholders) happy, what you're doing to make their lives easier, and that you're not just being difficult. How to Sell Your Ideas to Management I once had a boss whose rule for the engineers was, "If it's cool, you can't have it." His reasoning (which was usually dead-on) was that if we thought it was "cool," it didn't have a real business purpose. Sadly, I still use that rule for myself to this day. Usually, when I ask engineers why they need the new things they've asked for, the answer is either emotional or technical. Uppe