My boss said my project pitch was 'too simple' in a meeting, but a stranger at the coffee shop changed my mind.

I was feeling crushed after that feedback, so I went to Grounds for Thought on Main Street and just stared at my laptop. This older guy at the next table leaned over and said, 'The best ideas are the ones you can explain in one sentence.' How do you handle it when someone important to your work just doesn't get your idea at first?

3 comments

3 Comments

caseyflores1mo ago

Honestly, that stranger nailed it. Sometimes the people closest to a project get lost in the weeds and miss the clean, obvious solution. I'd take that coffee shop wisdom and use it to gently re-explain the idea's core value.

thompson.brian1mo ago

Tell me about it. I once spent a week on a leaky faucet before my neighbor pointed out the shut-off valve.

linda30513d agoMost Upvoted

Feel you on that. I once spent three days trying to fix my dryer, kept checking the belt and the motor. Turned out the vent hose was all blocked up with lint. My sister came over, looked at it for two seconds, and told me to just clean out the pipe. Took ten minutes. Sometimes the simple stuff is the hardest to see when you're staring at it every day.