Sutton's Law, Orginality, and Wisdom

I got a note from a friend who was concerned that he had given a talk where he gave me credit for the term "attitude of wisdom," but when a summary was published, it was presented as his idea. It is great to have friends who give you credit for ideas and, as I think is evident in this blog, I try to take great care to describe the sources of my ideas (not only to give people credit, but also because readers may want to dig in deeper and may also disagree with my interpretation).  But my friend's note reminded me of something that I've thought a lot about over my earlier career as a pure academic and more recently as someone who tries to bridge the worlds of research and practice -- the tensions and pitfalls around giving other people credit and claiming that one has an original idea.

On the one hand, as my friend was so careful to do, I think it is important to try to acknowledge where your ideas come from -- for reasons already enumerated here, to give credit, because people may want to learn more, and because they may want to challenge your interpretation.  I also think it is important to acknowledge others because it reflects how the process of developing academic and applied ideas in the behavioral sciences operates: There are few if any new ideas, and creativity happens largely through moving old ideas from where they are known to where they are unknown and blending them in new ways (See Andy Hargadon's book to learn more).  So most claims -- by academics or gurus -- that they have developed entirely new ideas are suspect, and as James March once told, me, most claims originality reflect arrogance, ignorance, or both.  I got sufficiently tired of all the false claims of originality -- especially among so-called  management gurus -- that (both here and in Hard Facts) I once proposed "Sutton's Law" after the now defunct Business 2.0 was kind enough to call me management guru:

"If you think that you have a new idea, you are wrong.  Someone probably already had it.  This idea isn’t original either; I stole it from someone else."

On the other hand, trying to figure where an idea came from -- when it was first developed and who developed it -- is often an impossible task.  The best (and most enjoyable) example of this challenge is seen in the lovely old book called On the Shoulders of Giants, where sociologist Robert Merton tried to trace the origins of the phrase " "If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." This is often attributed to Newton, but as Merton shows on his amusing and impressive scholarly journey, nailing down the origins of an idea is often impossible and (following March's comment and Sutton's Law) the only thing that is usually safe to assume is that if someone claims they invented an idea out of whole cloth, they are suffering from arrogance, ignorance, or both. 

So to return to my friend's concern about the phrase "The Attitude of Wisdom," I think I first saw it used by Karl Weick, who attributed a psychologist named John Meacham, who credited (among others) psychologist Erik Erikson and "Socrates, as expressed by Plato."  And on and on it goes. So I don't know where it came from, but I do know it wasn't my idea.

I am left with two practical lessons. First, trying to figure out the sources of an idea and taking care to give others credit for ideas leads you to think about an idea more deeply and protects you from arrogance (or being seen as arrogant) even if you may never find the real source. Second,  when it comes to the every day challenges of management, and life in general, perhaps the most important thing is to follow (Jeffrey) Pfeffer's Law:

"Instead of being interested in what is NEW, we ought to be interested in what is TRUE."

As usual, Jeff cuts to the heart of the matter.

Comments

[Auth]

You're absolutely right. Being atressive with your desires on makes life that much easier in the long run at least.I'm currently trying to establish just what I am to my partner who lives 3,000 miles away, only, I'm afraid to ask that question because I don't want him to think I'm needy. I have all the clues, but sometimes the clues are hard to read. Other times I find myself caught up in my expectations of what needs to happen.Either way, I will and from now on need to ask those questions and be that person , who is ME! And I don't mind being me

[Chicago property management]

Hi Bob! Thanks for this nice post. Your friend is really sweet to acknowledge you of your ideas. I read from the Book that wisdom comes from above. Does this mean that no idea is original? :-)

[Wally Bock]

A helpful post, Bob, and thoughtful as always. There are so many aspects to the twin challenges of giving credit where due and determining the true source of an idea or expression. Here are some others, among my own favorites.

There are ideas that seem to be "in the air." Examples are calculus, the theory of evolution, the telephone and more. Someone else may have the same new version/combination of ideas that you have.

There are made-up facts. My favorite is the study of (Yale or Harvard) graduates of the class of (1943, 1946, 1948) where a small (10, 20) percentage have (written) goals. (25, 30) years later they turn out to have accumulated more wealth than all the other graduates combined. I have never been able to find this study, nor has anyone I have challenged to do so, but it gets passed from motivational speaker to motivational speaker and now it is in the folklore of success.

There are quotes that get embellished with time. I don't know if Edison ever said anything about "learning how many things won't work," but the first time I heard it as a quote the number was fairly small. It's grown over the years. The last time I heard someone cite the example, old Tom had tried more than 10,000 materials for filaments that didn't work.

In the end, I agree that Jeff Pfeffer's take is probably a helpful guide to all of this. I'll be sure to give him credit, of course.

[dblwyo]

Touches home in several ways; have to particularly agree with Jan's point about lost ideas that need to be re-vivified. That said it is disappointing, whatever osmotic process caused one to gell out an idea or concept and try to put it in place to watch it appropriated by another for their own gain. On the other hand it is extremely gratifying to see one's ideas, sourced or not, slowly osmose into common practice and received wisdom. There is some karmic balance in both senses - that is the good work off-setting the lack of credit. It's amazing what you can get done if you don't insist on claiming credit. It's also amazing what could be done if credit were justly apportioned and what isn't when it isn't :) !

[Jan]

This has also hit me. You think long and hard on a problem and come up with a solution you haven't seen anywhere. And you think it's really original. But after some time you discover that often more than one person have launched the same idea in another part of the world. The only thing that's sad is that there are really great ideas from the early 20th century, that no one have heard of. If we just took care of the knowledge and refined it, instead of throwing it away for other crazy ideas.

[Michael Sporer]

Great post, Bob. How true that the origins of ideas are so difficult to trace. When ego rears it's ugly head, people love to take credit. You have a nice way of seeing the world clearly. And I love Jeff's quote as well.