What To Do if Your Idea is Stolen

In the digital age, innovation moves quickly. Collaboration is instant. Ideas spread freely. 

Maybe a little too freely?

Have you ever felt scared to share a great idea with someone, in fear that they might take it? Have you ever had your idea taken, reworked, and published, without much credit going back to you? This is becoming more and more common in the digital age. 

Meanwhile, some creators build amazing things in collaboration with others. They build businesses that make life easier. They create art that moves people. They develop theories that push us forward.

So where is the line between being generous with your idea and having it stolen? I think the line may be a matter of perspective. I’ll share two quotes and then, I’ll offer my thoughts.

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
–President Harry S. Truman

“A scarcity mindset simply creates more scarcity, because you’re isolating yourself from the circle of people who can cheer you on and challenge you to produce more. Instead, we can adopt a mindset of abundance. We can choose to realize that creativity is contagious–if you and I are exchanging our best work, our best work gets better… A vibrant culture creates more than it takes.” 
–Seth Godin, The Practice

The fear of having ideas stolen usually comes from a scarcity mindset. If someone steals your shoes, you’ll be bummed. They’re a physical thing. It will cost money and time to get new shoes. You might also have to walk barefoot for a bit. But if someone takes a whiff of the cookies you’re baking, you probably won’t mind. The smell is not a physical thing, and there’s no shortage of it. Ideas are more like smells than shoes. The more people smell your ideas, the more people talk about your ideas, the more input you get on your ideas, the better your ideas get. 

Here’s another riff: anytime you publish anything it will be used as inspiration, adopted, or copied. There’s no way to stop this, and in many ways, it’s the purpose of publishing! 

This isn’t to say intellectual property is not a real thing. I just think we overestimate the value of ideas, and we underestimate the value of hard work and collaboration. A great idea never shared will never see the light of day and may as well have never been conceived. 

I’m not condoning that we hearing others’ ideas and then copy them completely on our own. But I am condoning that we loosen her grip on our precious ideas, because the more we share, the more we create, the better the world becomes before we die.

It really doesn’t matter who gets the credit 300 years from now.