Maybe he genuinely believed it wouldn’t work. At this point, it’s important to engage and figure out why they don’t think it would work.
I don't disagree. I'm sure he believed it wasn't worth the time or effort. I'm sure the CTO didn't either. I was way behind them. They knew what I didn't know at the time: the company was not interested in investing in the project I was working on. They considered it finished.
No one one spoke up to disagree with him. In fact, the CTO was in the room at the time. This guy (the CTO) was always evangelizing about innovation. Not a peep out of him after watching someone's idea shot down.
This event and others made me realize that "that won't work" was an integral part of my company's culture. I guess it's about risk. In a company culture like this, there is no upside for a manager to try anything new.