We live in a world in which everyone’s “Art” is on display ALL the time.
We each have our individual art – Writing/Blogging, Business Practices, Sculpture, Painting, Photography, Fitness, Health, Spirituality . . .
Your Art defines who you are.
All people are proud of their Art. Of course they are, they created it from their heart . . . and so they display their art publicly.
Nowadays, these public displays of art are as easy as posting tweets – Facebook Wall posts – Websites – YouTube Videos . . . and/or physical displays of talent (Art Shows, Published Books, and accomplishments for which we receive public acclaim).
With this level of transparency, I sometimes see Reputation Self-Destruction (Intentional or accidental) in the form of the pilfering of other people’s Art without their permission AND/OR without crediting them for being the originators of the art.
Sometimes, this is as simple as passing along a quote with quotation marks and omitting the acknowledgement that “Fred Smith said this” . . . perhaps it was just because the perpetrator ran out of space (his 140 characters) . . .
but done once leads to making it easier to do again and again and again . . . and it’s sloppy.
I contacted a vendor a few days ago whose mass emails were impressing me with very wise and timely content. I complimented her writing skills . . . and she came clean . . . Those emails were not her writing . . . She was buying them and posting them as her own. Yes, she could argue that because she had purchased the material, she had the right to ownership (because she had the permission of the author) . . . Her credibility with me was gone because she did not CREDIT her source.
She was projecting someone else’s art out there and taking the credit herself . . .so why should I trust her in a business transaction?
Be careful with your reputation. It’s much easier to self-destruct than to build.
Remember:
Get Permission!
Credit the source!
ALWAYS!
I’m just sayin’
Best,
b