I’ve been fantasizing about going on a road trip next summer to Alberta to experience the majestic Canadian Rockies. While browsing possible itineraries, I keep noticing this advice: “Leave the beaten path and take the alternative route of....”

If you’re trying to get new ideas considered at work, I’d like to offer similar advice. The best route may not be that beaten path to your boss and the usual up-the-chain-of-command approval process. If he or she says, “No,” then what? You’re sort of at a dead end.

An alternative approach is to reach all around you and get 10 percent of the people at work behind your idea. When you reach 10 percent, the idea is likely to be adopted, according to scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The 10 percent can be people at any level; in other words, the assumption that you need “executive buy-in” may be a faulty one.

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