That'll Never Happen!!!

Overcoming doubt with big ideas

Feb 09, 2025

Last week my friend

reminded me of a saying that really gets under my skin. Every time I hear it, I want to challenge the thinking.

Bob discussed Five Phrases it Pays to Extinguish. You know classics like “That’s not my job” or “I’m not sure if I’m allowed to take a mid-day doctor’s appointment.” His article jogged a memory. Early in my career I remember being told “That’ll never happen” regarding one of my big ideas.

To this day, I believe this is one of the worst sayings and states of mind you can have in your career and project onto others. I still remember experiencing it for the first time as a 23-year-old golf course superintendent.

A “Green” Machine

It was 2002. I was a “green” assistant golf course superintendent at a prestigious private club north of Chicago. I was filled with energy, excited to make a mark early in my career.

Part of making a mark was identifying unique projects that I thought could improve both the golf course and myself. A win-win, right!? One such project was developing a labor hour tracking system for our management team to understand how the entire organization was spending time.

With the data, we could determine how much time was being spent on table stakes activities (i.e. - mowing grass) vs. value added activities (i.e. - golf course improvement projects that would make the members proud).

On the surface, this might sound like a pretty easy project. All I had to do was have our team note when they started and completed an activity on a sheet of paper, right? Not so fast.

The Barriers to An Idea Emerge

Like any great idea, barriers inevitably emerge. I quickly encountered two key ones that could doom my project.

First, 90% of our team was Spanish speaking. I didn’t speak Spanish, beyond the bad words of course. But, I was highly motivated to bust through this barrier. I figured learning Spanish would help me communicate more effectively with the team and gain their respect. Plus, I knew speaking Spanish would be helpful decades later given the growth of the Latino population in the US.

So, I pitched the idea to my boss. He agreed that it was a smart use of time. He sagely recognized that this was a good way for me to tackle a goal on my development plan (i.e. - learn Spanish) and for him to show his board he knows his business. If some young buck filled with spit and vinegar wanted to take on the task, why not let me?

Second, I had to convince my fellow coworkers this was a good idea. I quickly found plenty of skepticism once I brought it forth.

Most notably, my fellow assistant superintendent was less than supportive. He said, “That’ll never happen! The team will never fill out YOUR sheets.” He clearly wasn’t on board.

This could have killed my idea. Instead, his skepticism fueled my desire to make the project work. I KNEW it was a good idea. I ignored his opinion. I had our boss’s support, so onward. (I’ll share how I’ve learned that this isn’t the best approach at the end.)

Taking Action

I codified all golf course jobs and then translated them into Spanish, including both languages on our collection sheet. I reviewed the system with my boss and my naysaying friend. Everything was set to roll out.

I presented the process change to our staff in my best “Spanglish.” You could see the skepticism in the rest of the staff’s eyes. I asked if they had questions. Crickets. “My idea is bombing,” I thought. Maybe my coworker was right! This will never happen. But it did.

The bandaid was off. The team wasn’t fully on board. But, questions started to arise.

Some were pretty easy. “What the hell does this say?” was a pretty easy one. I did not speak Spanish well at that point. This was an opportunity to bring people into the tent for my vision. I said I could use some help translating a few things. Our best English speakers, Vicente and Mauricio, agreed. They started to turn my idea into our idea.

Other questions like “Why are we doing this?” were harder. Many were worried that the process would be used to assess performance, maybe even used to trim the staff. That’s where my boss and I both said this was absolutely not the case. All we wanted to do was identify ways to shift time away from “Table Stakes” tasks to “Value Added” tasks.

It still felt like my idea was dying on the vine. Then, the most tenured employee started to come around. He loved doing value added projects more than anything. He said, “Makes sense. Could be a good idea.” Magically, many of the other employees fell in line. They were willing to give it a shot.

In an instant, I felt victorious. I was most happy that my idea was accepted and propelled forward. To boot, I was happy that we were trying something that was deemed to be impossible.

Within nine months we had an actionable database of activity to improve our operations. Plus, I got an opportunity to present our findings and recommended actions to our board. It was my first opportunity to present to Sr. Executives employed at F500 companies. They were impressed with the work. Plus, they were excited about how the data could be used to pitch capital improvement projects to the entire membership.

Reflections Two Decades Later

We all face doubt daily. The “That’ll never happen” comes in other forms like “No chance” or “Impossible” or even the more passive aggressive “That’s an interesting idea.” People simply fear change. Looking back with twenty years of working wisdom makes me think of a few things.

Seize Upon Win-Wins - We don’t need to jump from job to job to be a career adventurer. Career Adventuring is about managing restlessness and injecting life into your work. Finding something both you and your company want to address can lead to meaningful pursuits for both parties.
Understand The Doubters - I did not understand this early in my career, as this story highlights. I took the lead from authority approach. In my mind, my boss supported the initiative. That’s all that mattered. Today, when faced with similar scenarios, I ask questions like, “Why will it never happen?” or “Have we tried this in the past?” or “What would have to be true for this to succeed?” This allows the doubters to maintain their position, while you gain helpful perspective to improve the idea.
Haters Gonna Hate - Then again, some people cannot be moved. They will hate your idea and tell you why it sucks no matter what. They are saddled with a fixed mindset. Maybe there’s help for them to embrace new paths, but it will likely take a lot of self reflection and coaching to jar them onto a new path. So, sometimes you gotta just ignore them.

Applying to Career Adventures

Forging unique career paths requires embarking upon adventures. New adventures help us grow. We build new skills. We test our mettle. We build confidence. Most importantly, we manage our restlessness. When we do the same thing day after day we will become uneasy eventually.

Yet, new adventures present risks. Maybe we’ll fail. Maybe we won’t like the new thing. Maybe our colleagues will root against us. We will face doubt, be it from strangers, friends, family, or ourselves. We cannot avoid the naysayers who say “That’ll never happen” or the sarcastic “Good luck.” We do have the power to persevere and turn the impossible into the possible, no matter how big or small the challenge may be.

Thanks for reading!

Paul G Fisher

Also, a special thanks to Bob Gilbreath for sparking the inspiration to share this story. Glad that you are a great writer and share your stories.

Additional Resources

Here’s a few additional resources for you to check out.

Hit Makers, by Derek Thompson - A bestselling book about how some things become popular while others do not. A must read for anyone thinking about bringing new ideas out of the shadows.
Mindset, by Carol Dweck - A book about building lifelong resilience. Carol is the “inventor” of the term “Growth Mindset.”
Rise.co - I recently came across Rise as an interesting new job platform. As they say - Rise is a modern job search platform that makes finding a job... gasp... joyful. ✨ We’re the rebels, misfits, and underdogs rewriting the rules on how to land jobs you love (yes, even remote jobs). Come join us today!