Thought Shrapnel

One of the reasons that it’s difficult to work with people who have different worldviews and assumptions is that you end up talking past one another. I’ve had a situation like this over the past few days, mainly around the ‘ownership’ of ideas.

For what it’s worth, my stance is similar to Tom Watson’s, who would have been working with me on a project had a strange confluence of events around ‘IP’ mean that there was no way forward. Ideas are easy; it’s the execution that counts.

If you’ve spent any time in the start-up world, you’ll know there are very few truly original ideas. It’s rarely just about the concept itself, it’s about who does something with it. Execution, timing, people, resources, persistence… maybe even luck.

“You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.” – Lee Iacocca

Ideas are born from imagination, but also from experience and history - from everything and everyone that has come before. So who can ever truly own one?

Source: LinkedIn

Image: Kaleidico