For many of my colleagues sharing ideas is an epic production. 5000 words, weeks of preparation, peer approval, boss endorsement, pages of references, etc. Sharing ideas, we’ve been taught, is an epic production.

We are bred to believe that ideas are shared only when they’re done. We think that value only comes with the finished product.

But this is how the networked communication changes things. Thinking is frequently public before it is finished. And are ideas ever really finished?

There’s the fear of losing our ideas. Concepts found here have made their way into a number of finished products without ever mentioning me. And that’s fine. If I were worried about that I never would have shared it with you. For me the benefit of collective input outweighs the risk.

The idea in evolution is my finished product. I just don’t make an epic production about it.

Image via Timothy Jarrett.