Getting Buy-In for Your Next Big Idea
From HBR On Leadership by Harvard Business Review
May 20, 2026 · 30 min · Episode 162
About this episode
This episode discusses strategies for leaders to effectively pitch ideas to senior management and gain buy-in.
Leaders are often called upon to pitch ideas to senior management about how to change the way their company does business. Perhaps you have proposed an improvement to an existing process, a new product, a technological tool, or a way to break into a different market entirely—with mixed results. In this conversation, Sue Ashford, professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, and Ellen Bailey, former vice president of business and culture transformation at Harvard Business Publishing, give suggestions for framing those ideas so that executives buy into them, including the research findings they keep in mind, questions they ask themselves and others when vetting an idea, and what they learned from the times they fell short.
People in this episode
Guests: Sue Ashford, Ellen Bailey
Topics covered
- leadership
- business strategy
- idea pitching
- executive buy-in
- organizational change
Keywords
- buy-in
- leadership
- business ideas
- executive decisions
- organizational improvement
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Michigan, Harvard Business Publishing
More episodes of HBR On Leadership
- How to Cultivate Your “Personal Power” as a Leader · June 3, 2026 · 26 min
- How Shake Shack Balanced Digitalization with Its Hospitality Ethos · May 27, 2026 · 29 min
- Redefining What Efficiency Means in the Age of AI · May 13, 2026 · 30 min
- Communicating with Confidence When You’re Under Pressure · May 7, 2026 · 34 min
- Build Your Resilience in the Face of Tough Change · April 29, 2026 · 25 min
- Making the Shift from Individual Contributor to Leader · April 22, 2026 · 38 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the HBR On Leadership podcast page.