Often after I pitch a big idea (or set of recommendations), I am cut out of the loop and later on (sometimes much later on) find out the idea was rejected. I do not even get the benefit of understanding why, because all communication with me has ceased on the topic. Why does this happen and how can I keep my confidence during and after this kind of situation? The only benefit of failure is the learning opportunity, so without that, these instances are just pure FAIL! Ugh. (More context: this often happens when I'm in a vendor/contractor/subcontractor/consulting type of role, which is how I've spent most of my career for the last 10 years)