Do the Deep Work
Here at HEROIC, one of our core values is respecting and protecting IP. Maintaining an atmosphere of integrity, collaboration, and respect ensures the speakers, thought leaders, and authors who join us on campus can learn, improve, and transform in a safe creative space.
When you do your own work and embrace the ethos of originality, you’re not only respecting the ideas of your fellow speakers, you’re also unlocking the creative power within you.
Creativity can only flourish with honesty and authenticity. To create something original, you must do the deep work. You must deliberately practice the skill you want to develop over a long period of time. Cal Newport talks about this in his book Deep Work, and explains the research behind expert performance.
Focusing intensely on a specific skill—in this case, ideation—literally changes the framework of your brain. You develop more myelin around the neurons associated with the specific skill, allowing that brain circuit to fire faster, more effortlessly, and more effectively.
When you deliberately practice creating original ideas, over time you’ll master this skill and be able to come up with new ideas faster and more effectively. That’s the creative power of honesty and authenticity. That’s deep work.
Now, if you do find an idea or concept from someone else’s intellectual property that deeply resonates with you and want to reference it in your speech, just be sure to give credit where credit is due. Citing someone else’s work (like I did above when I mentioned Cal Newport) is not only respectful to the creator, but it also provides the audience with the opportunity to learn more about the creator and their work, should they be interested.
It’s really that simple. Include their full name, the name of their book, speech, podcast, or study. When you acknowledge ideas are not your own and give credit to the creator, you are contributing to an environment where ideas are respected and valued.
Worried people will steal your ideas? You’re right. They will.
If you're worried people will steal your ideas once you put them out into the world, you're right. They will.
But there’s a positive side to it. Once people start stealing your ideas, you know you're onto something special. The IP pirates only look for idea treasures, ones that make an impact, change lives, and resonate with companies, organizations, and communities.
Now, knowing this, you have two choices. You could hide away your ideas, seal the lock shut, and protect them against any and all potential threats. Or you could take the risk and continue to bravely share your ideas with the world.
Yes, it’s possible a few idea thieves will copy your ideas or pass them off as their own. But by sharing your ideas with others, you open yourself up to new perspectives and insights that can help you refine and improve your ideas.
On the other hand, if you keep your ideas and knowledge to yourself, you limit the potential growth and improvement of those ideas. And, an unshared idea can’t change lives or make a difference in the world. And, it certainly can’t help you build your own influence and business.
What You Can Do
Let me be clear—I’m not suggesting you sit back and let people steal your ideas. There are intellectual property attorneys who can help you defend your ideas and protect them from cases of theft. Although I did play an attorney on TV (Law & Order), since that’s not my area of expertise, I’ll leave the legal advice to them.
Aside from the legal protections, there are practical and strategic measures speakers can take to safeguard their ideas while still making an impact.
#1 Create unique, innovative content
Often, uniqueness can act as a deterrent against copycats. As you develop content that’s uniquely yours—like your signature bit—others might try to imitate it, but they won’t be able to do it as powerfully and uniquely as you.
Every time you give your speech or share your message, you’re iterating—repeating and refining your presentation. Combine that with innovation, and your ideas won’t just change over time, they’ll get better every time. That’s something IP burglars will never have the privilege of experiencing.
As you constantly improve and evolve your message, you’ll become known for bringing fresh ideas and perspectives. You’ll have new ideas that help you maintain your position as a visionary (while the idea thieves struggle to keep up).
#2 Share selectively
If you are a consultant or entrepreneur who speaks to connect with potential clients or attract new leads to your business, you might consider holding back certain frameworks or powerful insights for your clients.
Of course, you want to always deliver valuable content that benefits your audience, but it might be a good idea to save your most powerful ideas for your clients. This isn’t my personal approach; I’ve always put everything I have out into the world, but it’s an option.
The same goes for authors who speak about their book. Your speech must provide value, while still provoking a curiosity gap that inspires your audience to read your book.
#3 Strengthen your referral ring
One of your most powerful resources as a professional or aspiring speaker is your fellow speakers. As you build a network of fellow speakers and professionals who respect your work, they will be a tremendous aid in supporting you and maintaining the integrity of your ideas.
Your referral ring—a group of trusted speakers who refer each other for gigs—can be your eyes and ears for events across the globe. They can stay on the lookout for potential illegal uses of your content, phrases, ideas, or frameworks.
As you form long-lasting relationships with sincere professional speakers, your ideas will be safer, your speaking business will grow faster, and your speech will become stronger.
#4 Record every presentation
Under copyright law, your speeches are automatically protected once they are fixed in a tangible form. That tangible form can be a script, written notes, or video recordings.
When you collect recordings of your speeches, you have dated proof, evidence that your ideas are your own. In the case of IP theft, this can be useful in demonstrating you originated certain ideas, frameworks, or stories.
My good friend Andrew Davis, perhaps the most referable keynote speaker in the world, records every single speech he gives. That’s right. Every. Single. One. Not only does this allow him to have evidence of his IP property, it also allows him to continuously iterate his speeches.
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