Why great ideas fail to get buy-in

Lightning Lessons

Practical skills & tools to accelerate your career

Why great ideas fail to get buy-in

Hosted by Ian Wharton

528 students

What you'll learn

The silent killers of pitching and presenting ideas

Uncover the hidden reasons why buy-in slips away and how to avoid them.

Practical tools for tough moments

Simple ways to navigate interruptions, doubts, and misaligned expectations.

A technique called 'The Surgeon'

Designed to help guide the delivery of an idea in both content and form.

Why this topic matters

Even exceptional ideas can fall at the first hurdle — the moment when they are sold to other people. Securing buy-in is a critical skill. The idea needs to be understood, well-positioned and memorable. This Lightning Lesson explores common reasons pitches fail and gives you practical tools to sell your ideas with clarity and confidence whether to an executive, client or team.

You'll learn from

Ian Wharton

Apple Design Award winner, author and tech founder. 20+ years of innovation.

Ian has been honoured by the Apple Design Award, the Royal Television Society, and the Art Director’s Club in New York. He is the Founder of VC-backed healthtech company Aide Health, Founding Partner of digital product studio Zolmo and published author of Spark for the Fire: How Youthful Thinking Unlocks Creativity. He previously served as part of the design leadership for agencies in WPP and Publicis Groupe.

Ian has spoken at 30+ conferences worldwide, including Semi Permanent, Cannes Lions, and Thinking Digital. He has written for Fast Company, Sifted, The Guardian and Creative Review.

He is also an advisory board member of D&AD Shift and a member of the Board of Governors at Arts University Bournemouth, one of the top creative institutions in the UK.

Over 2,000 alumni from teams including