Sachin Jain: An abnormal behavior that is normalized is idea theft

Sachin Jain posted on LinkedIn:

“An abnormal behavior that is normalized in many organizations is idea theft.

Someone has a great idea.

They share it with their boss or a colleague and before long it’s not their idea anymore. Instead, it gets communicated upwards and outwards as someone else’s idea.

The person whose idea it was originally tries feebly to correct the record, but they wonder if they are too focused on credit—or, worse, shamed by others for seeking it.

Or, even worse than that, they are told by others their idea wasn’t theirs in the first place.

And, then, life goes on.

With the subtle discouragement that follows from having experienced some minor injustice.

With dulled motivation to share the next idea or the one after that.

Sound familiar?

I have worked in settings where theft of credit is routine and normalized.

And I have worked in organizations where credit theft is an unrecoverable sin.

The latter is far preferable to the former.

Have you experienced idea theft? How did you respond? Or are you one of the lucky few who works in an organizational culture where there is focus on giving credit where credit is due?”

Source: Sachin Jain/LinkedIn

Sachin Jain is the President and CEO of SCAN Group and Health Plan and an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. He also serves as a Board Member at The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, an Academic Hospitalist (WOC) at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and a Board Member at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).