The Original Sin

How many Italian restaurants have you been to in your life? And how many emergency room dramas have you binged? 

If your favourite Italian restaurateur had decided not to open up shop because there were already so many Italian eateries, you would be without your go-to source for sumptuous pasta and pizza (and possibly a few pounds lighter, but it’s always worth it).  

Often budding entrepreneurs ask me if their business concept is original. My constant reply is “you don’t need to be the only one doing it, but you should aim to be the best.” Now keep in mind that “best” is a relative term. Typically best usually falls into three categories: quality, price or speed. (In my humble opinion, you can never be all three. Something’s gotta give.)

As motivational speakers and inspiring essays have become more du jour, a frequent topic is creativity...how to unleash it, channel it, dig it up from the depths of your soul, etc., etc. But I think people confuse creativity with originality.

While creativity is an aspect of originality, I believe you can be creative without reinventing the wheel. I have found the recipe for success (in building brands, products, services and even relationships) is creative thinking and thoughtful execution.

There is also too much focus on the “unicorn” businesses. The Ubers and Facebooks and Amazons of the world that have created entire new categories, but have also bypassed a lot of morals and ethics along the way.

And for each of these behemoths, there have been their challengers (thank you, Lyft), who keep them on their toes, give consumers options, and prevent the world from turning into one big monopoly (or Amazon jungle). If any of them had shied away because someone was already in the space, we would all be lesser for it.

These unicorns have also created delusions of grandeur for many entrepreneurs. They set their sights on being the next billion-dollar company, to which I say, “What’s the big deal?” Throughout my mentoring and professorial tenure (ya, I was a prof once!), I’ve repeatedly advised my mentees/students to focus on building a fulfilling, scalable and sustainable business rather than blowing their brains out (and blow them they will with that pressure). 

This applies to you even if you’re not an entrepreneur. In whatever you’re doing, whether it’s changing careers or growing within your organization you don’t need to be the OG (that’s Original Gangster for you old folks). Make a commitment to apply creative thinking and thoughtful execution to all that you do, and you will reap the rewards. 

So while I wish you all the best should you come up with the best invention since sliced bread (come on, who doesn’t love a good carb?), I do hope you won’t quash your creative ideas just because you think you didn’t think of it first. Think about how you can butter it up. (Next time I won’t write this blog on an empty stomach.)