If I had $100 and–out of the goodness of my heart– I gave you $10 I would have only $90 left, correct?
In this hypothetical exchange my bank account is now $10 lower. What’s more, because it was a gift rather than a loan, chances are that I’ll never get that $10 back. So, at the end of the day, giving this $10 dollars has resulted in a net loss.
OK. Good enough.
Now, lets assume that, instead of giving you $10 cash, I gave you one of my favorite prized ideas. An inspired idea. An idea so great that it made you light up with enthusiasm, instantly racing out to tell all of your friends about it– in person, on the phone, over email, on facebook, in your blog, through twitter, etc.
Question: How has this idea exchange changed the balance of my idea bank account? Am I left one idea poorer from the exchange?
Answer: NO! not in the slightest… in fact, the exact opposite. My idea bank account has grown. The idea which I spread has been expanded in my mind by your enthusiasm, and by the enthusiasm of all of your friends who took the time to think it. Not only that, but your feedback has helped me to enrich this idea and become a better evangelist for it. In fact, If I do this often enough, I will find that I have more great, inspired ideas than I know what to do with, and my ideas will reach people in ways I never imagined.
I will be an idea Donald Trump — abundant in valuable information and surrounded with grateful, passionate followers who want to support me in everything i do.
So, what’s the moral of the story?
Material things, like money, diamonds, and fossil fuels are scarce. They derive their value from their scarcity. That is how the laws of the material social world work.
Mental things — like ideas and inspiration are abundant. They derive their value from being shared and strengthened in the minds of other people. This is how the laws of the mental world work.
The real trick for today’s aspiring capitalists is to bridge these two realms — the mental and the material–by first tapping into the limitless abundance of the mental realm, and then harnessing this enthusiasm to inspire real world monetary exchange, in a spirit of trust and generosity.
Let’s face. The days of the zero-sum, top down corporate world are numbered. The Internet has fostered a fierce new global brain that is challenging all of us to better understand, leverage and manage the unlimited abundance of our inner worlds — and to translate this abundance into , material outcomes. This requires creativity, generosity, and trust.
If you still aren’t convinced, please try this — read the book “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis. In it you will see, in specific detail, how Google–defying all traditional business wisdom–used these same principles to create the world’s #1 brand, currently valued at over $220 billion and growing. Like an ingenious, inspiring 21st century mind virus.
The source of all material wealth in ourworld is actually the human mind. Everything starts as an idea . And ideas grow by being given away.
