The Wright brothers didn’t invent the wing – they studied birds. Henry Ford didn’t create the assembly line – he watched meatpackers. Steve Jobs didn’t devise the mouse – he borrowed it from Xerox.
Ego makes us think we need to solve everything from scratch. Wisdom knows better. Someone, somewhere, has already wrestled your dragon and won.
The real innovators? They’re master thieves. They steal solutions, not problems. While others bang their heads against walls, they’re out there finding the person who already built the door. Innovative leaders know this: Your next breakthrough is probably in someone else’s toolbox. The question isn’t “How do we solve this?” but “Who has?”
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