How to Let Someone Else Have Your Ideas

Today, I came across this ad.


It was produced by Ogilvy in Frankfurt, Germany. It is also identical to an idea and old creative director of mine had three years ago, but never produced.

Now, there's no way the good folks in Frankfurt stole my CD's idea.

What happened was simply this: He had an idea but didn't act on it. Years later (could have been weeks or even days), someone else had a similar idea, acted on it, and now has a very nice piece for their book.

The lesson: If you have a great idea, don't wait for someone else to make it happen.

In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else tomorrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson