Before I started college, I had little time in between, so I decided to take a brief course in design, photography and publishing. One of the lessons that we learned was the importance of copyright and giving credit where it’s due. We were taught not only about some of the legal repercussions but also how to protect our work. Later on, in college as well, we learned the repercussions of plagiarism and how to cite sources for our papers.

Where am I going with all this?

Well, recently I’ve been noticing more and more, people tend to take credit for other people’s ideas. People seem to forget to give credit where it’s due and tend to pass on other’s ideas as their own. I see it happening to me and others around me. In many instances, it is done is such a way and such a moment that there is almost no chance for someone to speak up and claim the idea or work as their own.

I get that the corporate world is extremely competitive…. it’s a dog eat dog world out there, as they say. But, I would think that some people, particularly senior executives would be ashamed of such behavior.

The important lessons that I learned about plagiarism and copyright don’t seem to have any place in the real world. It’s sad I wasn’t taught how to deal with corporate politics and be clever enough to claim credit.

I can only hope that somehow the truth comes out and people are discovered for being a fraud. I am always being accused of having a naive view of the world, I suppose this is yet another one of them.

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