“For every person who will say yes, there are 20 who will say no. For a positive response, you must find the 21st person.”
—The Theory of 21

The CEO of an electronics company had an idea. He was a solid businessperson but was not as well-versed in electronics as some of his engineers. He came up with a new product idea but didn’t know if it was feasible. He asked two engineers to explore how it could be done so he could decide whether the idea was worth developing into a new product line.

One engineer made an appointment, and delivered a formal presentation to the CEO explaining why the idea would not work. He had color charts and graphs and even some data that suggested no one would want the product even if it were to make it to market.

When he finished, the CEO told him that the other engineer was in the process of implementing the idea. Instead of developing a knock-your-socks-off presentation explaining why the idea was a bad one, the other engineer had waded through the obstacles to find a way to make it happen.

The idea, by the way, was caller ID—that now-ubiquitous service on most phones.

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