Secret Sometimes 🤫

Onegai shimasu (おねがい します)  🙇

You’re a creative person. You may have good ideas you want to share with the rest of the world. The company you’re at wants to know what the ideas are and want you to tell them.

This may or may not be good. This is where it’s important to read the contract before you sign and ask question to clarify. It may state that all ideas you have, and document in some form (whether at work or at home), belongs to the company. 

Or higher ed schools. Yes, schools.

This is a common practice because the company/school you’re at wants full commitment from you. Full and complete commitment.

While I was at a company, in my early career, I was told that the company was looking for new ideas and to submit them. I wrote it up and turned it in hoping that it becomes real. 

I found out a few things later: 

1- Only new-to-the-industry folks turned anything in. 

2- All the ideas were put into an archive file and never looked at. This was devastating. 

Fortunately, it was not my best idea. So, years later, I’m glad it was never made. 

This taught me a valuable lesson, though.

Now, the following is for your personal ideas. Not ideas that might help at your current job/class.

If you have original ideas, it may be prudent to not present them to anyone… yet. If it’s possible, in between jobs, to set up a Holding Company (where no $ is made) so the ideas can live in there. Fully protected and yours. A web site need not be made or anything.Later on, the ideas created at that point might still be with making, changed, or leave them. There may be a time you’ll need to disclose them at the next company you work at and state they are yours. I did that several times.

What’s ultimately important is to protect yourself and your ideas. No one else will do it for you.