(Photo by Foster’s Art of Chilling)

You’ve been told your whole life that it’s wrong to steal. Even the bible says, “Thou shalt not steal”. But is it wrong to steal someone else’s ideas?

Clearly it’s wrong to take someone else’s artwork and claim it’s your own. When you steal something tangible, the person who had the item, no longer does. But when you steal an idea, there’s now two people with the same idea. Is that wrong?

Ideas are really the easy part. Get a bunch of friends around a table and you can brainstorm ideas on just about any topic. But unless you act on the ideas, it’s just a bunch of thoughts that don’t weigh anything. In fact, for as many good ideas that you hear in your daily life, very few of them are ideas that people take action on. Why? Because ideas sound great in theory, but when ideas are put into action, the shortcomings become obvious. And the real work becomes turning the abstract idea into a real-world sustainable result.

You’re surrounded by ideas wherever you look: websites, advertisements, musical tunes, stories, television shows, etc. Study others’ implementation of their ideas to learn what works (and what doesn’t). Borrow other’s ideas and adapt them to your business (note: abide by copyright and trademark regulations).

And if you have a great game-changing idea, consider sharing it with others (especially if you’re not going to act upon it). By sharing your ideas, you’ll position yourself as a generous creative person and you’ll learn how else your ideas can be applied in ways you’ve never considered.