Herding HiPPOs – 4 Ways to Keep Your Expertise from Getting Trampled

By Brody Dorland — April 14th, 2009

highest-paid-persons-opinion-hipposWhat’s a HiPPO you ask?
Coined by Google Analytic guru Avinash Kaushik

Have you ever been given the responsibility of designing/developing a new marketing piece (website, brochure, etc.) only to have your design or content ideas trampled by an upper-level executive who really has no clue? That’s a HiPPO, the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion.

As a website developer, I tend to run into HiPPOs a lot. And unfortunately, there are a lot of bad websites out there that have been designed based solely on the siloed, subjective opinions of  upper-level management. I know the same can be said for logo and print designs as well. Ask any graphic designer and I’d bet they have a slew of designs that their clients “should have chosen”…But I digress.

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