Are There Any More Original Ideas?

I’m collaborating with another consultant as part of my other business, PinPoint Performance Solutions, and the issue of protecting intellectual property came up.  In the project we are working on, we are trying to think of ways to guard the content that is being published.  We simply don’t want someone to take the content after viewing it and adopting it as their own.

I the world of consulting, I wonder if guarding your thoughts and ideas can really be done?  Sure, we could encrypt the data, password protect it and place it on a server where a registered user we full vet has to authenticate in order to see it.  In the end, is it really worth the effort?  There are many consultants who come up with their own original ideas, concepts and models to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise.  They use these “artifacts” as their product to sell to clients.  There are others who synthesize ideas and concepts from others, boil them down and present them as their own.  There’s nothing wrong with this, as long as you cite your sources and inspiration for those thoughts and concepts – the ones consultants use to promote themselves.  In other words, give credit where credit is due.

I’m not sure there are many new, original ideas in consulting these days.  If I am wrong, please tell, but to me consulting is about serving the client by pulling together information and shaping it in a way that makes sense to them and in context to the issue they wish to solve.  Whether it is through original ideas or ideas drawn from other sources the result is the same – changing the client’s condition for the better.