Copy and Paste

One of the most annoying things in the world is copy and paste.

Not the function itself. The mentality.

The mentality of taking someone else’s idea, their framework, their language, their approach, and presenting it as your own without transformation. Without synthesis. Without adding anything.

I see this constantly in marketing, in leadership, in conference talks. Someone reads a book, borrows its central metaphor, and teaches it to their team as if they discovered it themselves.

Copy and paste is not the same as being influenced. Being influenced means something passed through you and came out different. Copy and paste means it passed through you and came out the same.

The world doesn’t need another copy of an existing idea. It needs your synthesis. Your angle. Your ‘this is what this means in our context.’

Read widely. Be influenced deeply. But when you open your mouth or pick up your pen, say something that is yours. That’s the only way you add to the conversation rather than just echo it.