Monday Morning Mumbling
The Monday Morning Mumbling series is based upon this premise: one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day. The longer I put these out, and the more positive thoughts I dig into, the more firmly I believe this. Let’s see if we can’t take a step in the positive direction right now. Here’s the quote:
“Don’t worry about people stealing your design work. Worry about they day they stop.”
— Jeffrey Zeldman
I must admit that before I came across this quote, I didn’t know who Jeffrey Zeldman was. But it turns out, that just adds depth and validity to his comment here. Because he is living his creed, and his quote is accomplishing exactly what he sets as a goal for himself. Let’s dig in.
This weekend, I spent some time at the Conference and Expo for the Washington Metro Chapter of CAI. And on a personal note for a moment, it was a relief, and a joy, and just a flat out celebration to see so many people in person for the first time in two years – or in some cases ever! If I talked with you, let me tell you that it made my day. And if we missed one another, then let’s make plans to fix that.
Back to our topic though – the Expo is always a fascinating case study in business operations and the entrepreneurial mindset. Because you have all these different, dedicated professionals, trying to build their brand and talk about what sets them apart from the rest. It is quite honestly an inspiration; the people I see regularly putting in the time and effort to be in the right place to build their business are people I admire.
Inevitably, there can be a certain level of mimicry; there are those who will “copycat” successful ideas. And if you are the originator of that first idea, it can be tempting to try to protect it – to stop others from “stealing” it and benefitting from your vision.
If we take a step back though and analyze that “stealing,” two flaws immediately emerge in the thought process.
First, we’re all borrowing from someone else. We are all standing on the shoulders of those who came before us. The reason I can write a blog post with a neat tagline, or teach a class with built-in case studies, or have a booth with a cool theme, is because someone before me has already created the concept. So if I put a fun new spin on something, yee-haw for me, but no one is going to confuse me with Henry Ford because I tweaked a well-known format ever so slightly.
But the second flaw in that concern of “stealing” is really what today’s quote is all about. Because sure, it would be nice to have an idea and protect it and gain 100% of the benefit from it forever. But we live in a massively fluid and dynamic world where that simply isn’t the way things work. So you have to choose to be an innovator, to deliberately do things a little differently. You have to come up with the next idea, and the next one, and the one after that. You have to decide not to be just another face in the crowd running the same playbook that everyone else is borrowing from one another. “Fellner? Sure, he’s a regular/typical attorney. His content and education fit the mold.” Instead, I am challenging myself this week, this month, this year, to be the type of person that others want to steal from. Who comes up with the next big idea, and the next one after that, and about whom people say: “Fellner? Yeah, he is always doing something. What the hell is that guy gonna come up with next? Gotta keep an eye on him.”
In other words, if people are going to “steal” or imitate or borrow from me, maybe that is okay. Perhaps it is even a goal. Turning the quote on its head, what we are really saying here might be – do something worth stealing. Be someone worth watching. Create content worthy of followers, of fans, and even of copycats.
If you agree, then I look forward to seeing you out front leading the way, whatever that means for you.
And have a great week everybody.