I was trained as a Graphic Designer and the three years of my education centered around finding great design and making it my own.

We called this REFERENCE and:

“Reference was KING.”

I have the feeling that a lot of designers and copywriters would be homeless if they weren’t able to stand “on the shoulders” of those who’ve gone before.

Thankfully someone has already “been there and done that” most of the time.

I just wish people would use their heads…

Instead of consciously stealing articles or concepts word for word.

Thanks.

“James Brausch says it’s fraud to teach what you don’t know through your own experience, so even if you do the research, if you don’t have the experience to add to that research and you don’t give your sources, it’s theft and plagiarism.”

I disagree with James’s point of view.

If we agreed to such a strict interpretation, we’d have to source every single word we spoke just to stay honest.

Did not words themselves originate with someone? If I use the word “computer,” must I give attribution? How about the “world wide web?”

If a person reads 20-40 books a year or more, and then writes or speaks about what he has read, I doubt he will be able to source correctly.

One book might source 100 different sources. If you read 20 books, you could potentially be dealing with 2,000+ unique sources.

To say a person must source every idea he writes or talks about–if he hasn’t personally experienced it–is ludicrous.

Let’s take the flip side: Just because a person has experienced something, does not make him a qualified teacher.

Many times, experience is deceptive. A person may draw the wrong conclusions from his experience.

Finally, let’s examine what “fraud” really means. To fraud someone is to deceive them or trick them.

So to be a fraud, I must teach as truth things I know are wrong.

Let’s look at a deist versus an atheist. One is right and one is wrong. There either is a God or there isn’t.

Both are passionate about their positions. Both teach others what they believe. Is one of them a fraud?

I don’t believe so. One is merely blinded to the truth. He is not trying to deceive. He is teaching what he believes to be true.

One final illustration and I’ll quit…

I’ve never personally stuck a solid metal object into an electrical outlet. I’ve never personally been electrocuted.

Nevertheless, I teach my children that they should not stick metal objects into electrical outlets because they could be electrocuted.

Am I a fraud for not giving attribution to my mother who originally taught me that?

Food for thought.

Ryan

P.S. Sorry to see you’ve been dropped from JB’s intern program. You sound like you’ve got a good heart.

Great piece, Ryan. Y’all just enjoy doing your homework and writing fresh, and (to quote–not steal from–another fine writer, Bob Marley)…

“Everything gonna be alright.”

James Brausch says it’s fraud to teach what you don’t know through your own experience, so even if you do the research, if you don’t have the experience to add to that research and you don’t give your sources, it’s theft and plagiarism.

As for new ideas, it takes a lot more effort to convince people of a new idea than of a new spin on an old idea. Ask Pasteur, Einstein, Fuller…

Your recent experience reminds me of those domain registrars who send out renewal statements that look like invoices… just hoping you will pay them without questioning the authority of the source.

Thanks for sharing the Business Ethics Pledge. I will read more and consider signing it.

Your post is timely, Ryan. Just the other day I left a scathing voicemail with someone who had mailed me a newsletter sample, a bill for $200+, and a fairly subtle one-page sales flier. They made it look like I had already subscribed (though the sales flier could have been a tipoff), and my voicemail called their marketing “disgusting.”

I imagine most of these end up on the desks of secretaries at larger corporations who assume that someone in fact did authorize the subscription.

I’ve been writing about ethics in marketing (and in business generally) for several years now, most notably in my award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First.

PS, Ryan, you might be interested n the Business Ethics Pledge, an international campaign to make these ways of doing business socially unacceptable: http://www.business-ethics-pledge.org
The thing I drive home over and over again is that ethical marketing is actually smarter and more profitable.

It seems “lifting” happens all the time, especially in my line of work.