I have at times needed to keep projects "secret" because I knew that there would be a 95% chance that the idea would be shot down immediately in any meeting due

I have at times needed to keep projects "secret" because I knew that there would be a 95% chance that the idea would be shot down immediately in any meeting due to being infeasible, politically/personally tricky in some way, difficult to explain, and so on. So I have worked on these ideas sometimes at off hours, or while also making progress on other tasks. Thus far, these skunkworks have been very successful. There is an element to it in many things I do... I often prefer a bit of vagueness around what I am actually doing, since it gives me more freedom to consider solutions that might not be in line with what everybody would expect. Which sometimes makes me wonder if I am being a "cowboy coder" or something. Some of it is due to my skills of persuasion and communication—if I were better at that, maybe I wouldn't need secrecy. But I also just know that some good ideas will not fly in a group meeting before a prototype exists. Then my duty and passion for the product and company override my duty to clear everything with the whole team, I feel. It's not an easy question.