Recently, I posted about a Harvard Business Review (HBR) article remarkably similar to my book PIVOTAL: Creating Stability in an Uncertain World.
I wasn’t implying that my ideas were copied. Quite the opposite. Sometimes, great ideas arise simultaneously because the timing is right.
This wasn’t the first time it happened with my content and HBR.
In 2005, I wrote a book titled Goal-Free Living, exploring how goals often lead to unintended and undesirable consequences. In 2009, HBR published an article titled Goals Gone Wild, echoing similar ideas – but with a much better title!
But even that wasn’t the first instance.
My background is in Industrial Engineering, specializing in manufacturing productivity and process optimization. After university, I joined Accenture (then Arthur Andersen and then later Andersen Consulting). Around 1988, a few clever consultants realized that manufacturing optimization techniques could apply to all work, not just “blue-collar” jobs. From this, “White Collar Productivity” was born, but it never gained significant attention.
Then, in 1990, Dr. Michael Hammer published Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate in HBR, closely resembling our White Collar Productivity work – again, with a better title. Three years later, he released Reengineering the Corporation, sparking a revolution and becoming one of the best-selling business books in history.
Thanks to Hammer’s book, companies embraced reengineering. Although his company couldn’t deliver major projects, we could. We rebranded our work as “Value-Driven Reengineering” and became one of the most sought-after practices in the company. At one point, over a quarter of Accenture’s revenues came from this work. I had the great honor of serving as one of the practice’s co-leaders for several years before transitioning to a focus on innovation.
The cherry on top was that I worked closely with Dr. Hammer, who became a tremendous influence on my career, inspiring my path as an author and speaker.
So, when someone shares an idea similar to yours, rather than feeling frustrated, consider the silver lining. Their success might just pave the way for your own. Instead of competition, think collaboration.