More Secret Squirrel Stuff

Apropos my previous post, secrecy is not all its cracked up to be in business.

I once knew an inventor who created an innovative and potentially powerful new product with international appeal.

Having come up with a new product and process to produce it he was hell-bent on protecting it at all costs. Unfortunately this translated into him trying to contain all the IP himself - in other words not sharing it with anyone.

Now if he was a superman who could not only conceive the product and process but could also build the factory, create the brand, sell the product, build the team and turn it into an international success, that would be fine.

He was not that superman. But it was a corker of a concept so he rapidly began to think of himself as a superman. He didn't understand his limits.

As the cracks in the proposition started to emerge he clung tighter to the IP and tried to find fixes with his own resources -to the extent that he refused to admit he didn't have all the answers; he failed to call in external experts when he needed them most and this jeopardised the entire project.

Most importantly by clinging tight to the idea, the process and the ownership, in a situation where his limits were significantly less than he perceived them to be, he was preventing the idea being carried forward.

If he was open and expansive and prepared to let go he could have created a global empire. Instead he clung tight and became small and increasingly miserable.

The moral of the (true) story is to know your own limits; to accept your faults; to be open and inclusive in bringing people along; to create a coalition of interest around a concept rather than to try and dominate it.