How do I get management of my small company to see how low morale is and do something about it?

• My company's management is driving us into the ground with their poor project ideas, and morale is really low. How do I get them to see what they're doing and hopefully make changes? I work for a small (~30 people) tech firm based near a large city on the east coast. It's somewhat difficult to classify what we do, but basically if any company needs tech staff, we can provide it. We have good relations with a large telecom and most of our people are placed there. We also had a contract for a development project with the company, but that fell through recently during budget cuts on their end. Now that that contract is gone, we don't have any projects coming up. It's not all that surprising, then, that morale in the company is pretty low. We're also down around ten people from two years ago, and there hasn't been any indication that they want to start hiring again. Part of the problem is our management. My boss gets these half-baked ideas, has us follow them for awhile, and then ends the project when it fails. The ideas he comes up with are fairly absurd and most of us roll our eyes at them, but we keep going with it because he pays us, and there's always the odd chance that one of them might actually work. They seem to be against venturing beyond this one telecom, which seems like a pretty ridiculous thing to do. A brief explanation of management: our company is "run" by our CEO, who is the daughter of the guy who really runs the show. The latter is who I refer to as my boss. She has stated several times that she would like to see the company go down a certain path, but it's pretty clear that she takes her marching orders from her father. It's pretty amazing to me that management can't see how their business plan is destroying the company, and how we're all aware of that and how it drives down morale. And if they do see it, they're turning a blind eye to it for some reason. But I can't stand it anymore. When I started at the company, they welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like I was part of the family - and that's all gone now. I have ideas for projects that are considerably less ridiculous than what my boss conjures up, but I don't get responses to my emails. So my question is: how do I bring all of these issues about the company to management's attention, and maybe make them do something? It's clearly rude and out of line to sit down with my boss and say, "Hey, your ideas are running us into the ground; why not try something new?" but I can't come up with anything else. Our CEO is marginally more approachable than her father, and I've thought about trying to sit down with her and try to get her to see things from our perspective, but I would think that to be really out of line. I don't really know the business side of things, so I'm not in a position of authority there. Has anyone else dealt with this sort of thing? Are there ways to appoach the subject? Oh, and I don't want to leave the company. I'm part of a very capable team, and I like everyone in the company. I'm also somewhat cautious of starting a new job, with the economy still doing poorly. If I start new now and the new company goes belly up or they need to downsize, I'd be the first one out - and I don't have a lot of cash saved up.

• Answer:

  My one functional suggestion is to just implement one of your ideas without getting permission first. Show your fantastic results. That will get their attention. Sending emails to the boss and waiting for them to jump on your ideas never got anyone anywhere, I don't think. You've got to take some initiative. DO something, SHOW that it's better, and you should get a different reaction. This is risky. You have to take an "ask for forgiveness not permission" approach. And it might just be something small. But you ought to be able to find something, even modest, where you can demonstrate your superior ideas. Until you do that, why should they listen to you? Basically: bring it. Sneak something under the radar. You can do it. Couple of things to consider: It's not always about who's smarter. Sometimes you work for smart people you don't see eye-to-eye with, and it's still a frustrating mess. You say you don't want to leave the company, but why do you want to work for people who don't see things in remotely the same way as you? Trust me, you'll be happier with more like-minded people, and you'll find that they will be more willing to give you authority. If you truly believe these people are destroying the business model and driving the company into the ground, you should be trying to find a new job, before you are laid off. I don't understand your reluctance to change jobs into some company that might fail. It sounds like you KNOW your current company is going to be destroyed, and your job will be gone. Either you're exaggerating their idiocy, or you're making an illogical choice to continue working for idiots without a safety net.