Watch Out There’s A Thief About

I don’t know if you have been through this before. I know that I have. 

I was working as a sales consultant for a firm (I don’t even remember what they did!) I’d been headhunted to sell for an independent sales company. My job was to book a meeting for our client to be able to present their product. It was a true New Business Development role, and the client was looking to us to get them through the door of their target market so that they could sell to them face to face. 

At the time, there were two of us working on this client, me and another guy. Let’s call him Tony. 

Tony invited me to lunch. 

He wanted to get to know me better, and since we were working on the same client and both independent sales consultants, we thought it would make sense to go get lunch and have a chat. 

I was happy to do so, and it was good to have company for lunch.

We found a spot, ordered our food and got chatting. We spoke about our sales careers and the who we had worked for selling what. It was pleasant and easy, and then the question came.

I have to be honest; I was not prepared for it. I didn’t recognise it and, in my willingness to be friendly and have a chat, I didn’t realise what was happening. 

Tony’s question?

“So, what are your ideas and plans to get more client bookings.” 

You see, before lunch, our boss had asked us to think about how we can increase the number of appointments that we were making. The customer was pretty new to the market and so getting appointments was slow.

He wanted us to come up with ideas on how we could get more clients. 

Remember, these were the days before social media and digital marketing wasn’t mainstream.

Sales back then and still is, to some extent, a numbers game. I had come from selling across industries and having strict KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to achieve sales success. So that was my sales methodology. 

Back to lunch… 

I spilled my methodology like a gutted fish. What I thought we should do, how I thought we should do it. Where to start, the kind of clients to go for… 

ALL OF IT! 

He was intrigued and oohed and aahed in the right places. Eager to pleasure and to show my prowess as an experienced salesperson, I furnished him with my ideas and my how-to. 

We walked back to the office. He went to his desk, and I went to mine. 

About half an hour later, my boss came in to tell me that Tony had some great ideas as to how we could get more clients. 

Then he proceeded to tell me every single one of my ideas! 

But they were not being told as my ideas… they were being told as Tony’s. 

I sat there with my mouth wide open. 

I tried to say that there were my ideas, but it sounded so hollow, so wannabe. 

I went to Tony and asked him what the hell he was up to. He just brushed it off and took no responsibility for his actions, and certainly wasn’t willing to give me credit. 

I was furious!

But I learned an extremely valuable lesson. 

Watch out there’s a thief about! 

This story is common. 

Many of my clients have been through this, and friends too. You may have been too. 

We often want to see people as people, interested in and intrigued by us. Sometimes we want to validate ourselves by proving that we have intellect, ideas or creativity. Maybe we just want to fit in and see sharing as a way of connecting. 

Sadly, in the work environment, we must have our wits about us. 

Not everyone is for you. Not everyone is as talented as you. Whilst you are there questioning your validity, others are wondering how you easily come up with such great ideas. 

We need to be more circumspect. 

This doesn’t mean that we never share… oh no. 

What it does mean is that we share with the right people at the right time under the right circumstances. 

This means that we stop sharing with anyone who asks and start asking more questions than we prove answers. 

It means getting good at feigning ignorance. 

I’m always banging on about questions and with good reason. Good questions can give you good answers and can help you to determine what is really going on. 

Here are some responses and questions that I have learned to use in this situation: 

When asked: So, have you started on x? What are you planning to do for x? 

• I haven’t had the chance to think about it. 
• Not sure, what do you have in mind? 
• No, I haven’t yet, have you? 

• Where do you think we should start? 
• How’s your planning going, I’ve not really done anything yet? 
• What do you think?
• I’ve been far too busy; I’ve no idea yet 
• I’ve no idea, what about you? 
• Oh well, I am sure it will work out
• Not yet, look, I’ve got to get on with x, so good luck. 

These are by no means exhaustive, but every time I seek to throw the ball back into their side of the court. Use time as an excuse or feign ignorance. If you have to provide information, make it top line and vague. 

Here is the truth – they can’t do detail like you, and that’s why they are fishing. 

You see, when you give it away, you also give others the opportunity to dine out on your genius—using your ideas as their own to score points for their promotion. 

Save your breath for;

• Your one to one with your boss 
• Meetings where you need to present your ideas 
• Adhoc meetings with your boss or other senior leaders
• Proactively telling your boss and colleague ideas in meetings to let them know where ideas have originated from

Consider

• Addressing the colleague directly and calmly (whilst this may seem obvious, this is not always easy)
• Emailing your ideas to the decision-makers before sharing with others (if you know that they are not in cahoots against you, with your peers)
• Having a conversation with your boss about the challenges with the other employee/team 
• Copying in significant people when sharing ideas so that they know where they originated from
• Only providing top-line ideas rather than detail

I am sure that you have great ideas about this and unfortunately, the experience of this happening to you. 

It’s important to learn how to hold your excitement to share ideas and information and to hone your ability to discern what is happening in the moment. 

Don’t be hard on yourself if you struggle with this or if it has happened to you. It takes practice and takes being more cautious. 

It takes validating yourself…yourself and not putting that in the hands of others. 

It takes taking a moment and seeking to understand before being understood. Which means it takes using more questions before you give any answers. 

The workplace has become increasingly competitive, and so it’s important to be aware. 

So, watch out… there’s a thief about!