14.
GET RID OF THE WORD “I”

“I”is a dividing word. It divides people into two groups — you and everybody else. And an ideaist must bring people together, not split them apart. If no nation can long endure divided, certainly no organization can.

Nor is “I” accurate when you use it to claim credit for an idea. Ray Bradbury once told me that he never knows when something he read twenty years ago will “collide” with something he read yesterday to produce a new idea for a book or a story.

In the same way, you never know who planted the seeds of the idea that grew in your mind. Was it a chance remark of your husband or wife? A sign you saw on the way to work? A comment made in a meeting? A look on someone’s face? A remembrance from your childhood? A movie? A song? A poem? You owe a debt to millions for every idea, every solution, every suggestion.

Learn instead the word “we.” It is more binding and accurate. And it makes working with you more fun, for it is fun for people who give credit, and fun to feel responsible for a company’s success.