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At least in the business world, I think the value of getting ideas out is vastly overrated. Someone else has to choose among a flood of ideas, which one is worth pursuing. And they may have had the same idea themselves but kept it to themselves.

I'm a bit adamant about this (and willing to eat the downvotes -- fair is fair). Every individual contributor (IC) has experienced credit for something they've worked on being given to a colleague or manager who comes in at the last minute and claims to have blurted out an idea at a meeting.

I've gotten plenty of credit for ideas -- 20+ patents. What I'm proud of is the part of a patent called "reduction to practice," where you figure out the details that prove an idea to be workable, and typically result in additional claims. I've informally adopted a standard that an "idea" has the same requirements as a patent, specifically a study of background information and an explanation of how something can be reduced to practice. I'm super generous with credit, especially towards my junior colleagues.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. And as a musician, I got over the difference between "doing" something, and making money, long ago.



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