Creative Swiping

Management guru Tom Peters invented the term creative swiping to describe the practice of borrowing good ideas from other companies, whether your competitors or in entirely different fields.

Creative swiping is more than mere copying. Ideas swiped from competitors must be improved upon if they are to offer competitive advantage, while ideas swiped from other sectors must be adapted to serve the needs of the business. To benefit from creative swiping a business must be open to new ideas and have a culture of learning and improvement throughout the organisation.

Many good ideas will be harvested by staff at low levels in the organisation, so the culture must encourage them to implement these ideas. Good communication, openness and intellectual honesty are essential. Not Invented Here (NIH) must be replaced by Swiped With Pride.

If you would like to know more about creative swiping and how you can use it to improve your business, please download Sherpa Consulting's Creative Swiping paper by clicking on the download button.

A little swipe?

In Autumn 2004, Cable & Wireless ran the advert below in a number of national newspapers. Clearly they appreciate a good metaphor when they see it!

Cable & Wireless advert