eleanor sought opinions from a former boss who had left to join a research firm, from a peer in a different part of her own company, and from a longtime friend from business school. what these outside perspectives helped her understand was that she was right to be worried: her software didn’t stand a chance. she had to do something before the numbers started tanking.

now confident in her own opinion, eleanor made the difficult case to her colleagues that the product should be rolled up with a suite of other software the company sold. then she made the case to her bosses. she and her team were put in charge of integrating the software into the larger package. the move probably saved all of their jobs — and soon after, eleanor got a promotion.