Then there are the times you shoot yourself in the foot with your own big ideas. I once convinced a Dept. Head to spend 200k on a video revealing a new state of the art vending machine. The concept was sci fi -- I thought up having a soda pop tech lab orbiting Jupiter as a space station. (I don't know, it made sense at the time) Well, this lab guy is supposed to call some key executives on earth for input on the design of this kerpocketa machine. He does it on a computer screen, did a little green screen stuff. Went fine.
Only two of the three senior executives I featured were fired before the video was released making the tape unusable. It went straight to the shelf and did not pass go. The supplier did collect 200 grand, though, and I could never look that executive in the eye again after emptying his operating budget. After he retired (read was forced out at 55, a lot of that going on these days) I once told him I considered that my biggest screwup. He was very understanding and pointed out there was no way I could know everyone higher up the food chain was about to be shown the door.