One of the challenges of managing knowledge workers is that we can't know what they know. We can only hope that they choose to share it with us.
We can't look inside people's heads — yet. But I imagine that technological innovation will soon produce this announcement as soon as an employee I.D. unlocks the exit from corporate campuses: Please deposit your ideas at the door before passing through the brain scanner to make sure you aren't taking any ideas with you. And don't forget to leave any thoughts you brought with you from home this morning; they are now company property.
This idea (which of course my employer can own) came to mind while following the ongoing case of Doll Wars, starring Barbie versus the Bratz — i.e., Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Inc.
In 2001, MGA launched its edgy Bratz dolls, which quickly became a fierce rival for Mattel's Barbie and friends. Although Barbie remained number one, sales slid. Mattel sued MGA for patent infringement and charged former Mattel designer Carter Bryant with intellectual property theft. Mattel cited its invention agreement, which specifies that any inventions including designs that a person creates at any time during employment at Mattel will be owned by the company. Bryant settled with Mattel for an undisclosed amount prior to the trial of Mattel v. MGA.
In 2008, a federal jury awarded $100 million to Mattel but no punitive damages (well below the nearly $2 billion Mattel had sought) and gave Mattel rights to the Bratz dolls. In defense, MGA claimed that Bryant's idea was created between two stints at Mattel, when he was not employed by the toy industry. The jury said that the idea for the first four Bratz dolls had developed at least in part while at Mattel. But in December 2009, an appeals court gave MGA a new lease on life, staying an injunction that would have required taking Bratz off retail shelves. This allowed MGA to keep selling through holidays and 2010 while continuing the appeal.
I have no opinion on this case, which I've summarized from public sources. But my mind has churned with thoughts, all of which, if my employer were like Mattel, would no longer be owned by me.
When does a thought become an idea, an idea become an invention? When does a doodle become a drawing? How do we know how long a thought has been rolling around in someone's mind? Is an employee required to share all thoughts about better versions of products or services? If professionals are hired to provide ideas by deadlines, and they do that, can they keep their leftover thoughts for themselves? What if their thoughts become useful ideas off-hours and off-premises with no company resources involved? On the other hand, if people work flexibly and remotely, how can there be any boundaries?
In the world of new technology, copyrights are easily infringed, and information begs to be free. Google is seen by some as a liberator of information and by others as a thief of intellectual property. There continues to be a debate about whether overly rigid patents stifle innovation, including whether patent holders can receive injunctions when there is infringement (as Mattel did), not just monetary damages. There is tension to be resolved between proprietary IP and open innovation involving collaborations across companies that can cause an entire industry to grow.
There are certainly lines to be drawn, conditions that would constitute unethical or illegal conduct. If we leave it to the lawyers, those brain scanners I imagine at the door will become real. If instead we give more rights to knowledge workers — while making them feel loyal and committed to the company — then thoughts are more likely to be shared voluntarily, and a company's best protection when ideas drift away is to keep new ideas coming. That goes for Barbie and her friends, too.
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