Make your case

Stan Lee told BBC Radio 4 in an interview recently that his publisher thought his web slinging hero idea was going to be a disaster. “First of all, people hate spiders, so you can’t call a book Spider-Man. Secondly he can’t be a teenager—teenagers can only be sidekicks. And third, he can’t have personal problems if he’s supposed to be a superhero—don’t you know who a superhero is?" his publisher barked.

Time and again, you run into the dead end with your boss - and so what can you do? I have found the words "make your case" to be very effective for both sides.

If you are the boss who doesn't think much of the idea presented but can see that your sub ordinate is persistent, have the magnanimity to say, okay - make your case. And when you hear the words make your case, then you need to understand that your first try has not been successful, so don't make the mistake of going the same path again. Here is an opportunity for you to try a different approach. Irrespective of the outcome after this point, the working relationship remains respectfully healthy as both sides have given this a fair shot.

To get the idea out of his head, a defeated Lee hired an artist to draw the character and snuck Spider-Man in to the last issue of the shuttered series Amazing Fantasy, which went on to become such a big seller. Perhaps he may have not required to use the back door if his publisher said - okay Stan, make your case.

www.karma-and.co/blog