One of my favorite shows on TV is “Dirty Jobs” with host Mike Rowe. I like Mike; I would love to meet Mike; I am pretty sure we would get along famously. I have watched the show from the beginning and it is now a weekly thing the kids and I watch. I have repeatedly commented on how the show seems to highlight something much deeper than simply dirt. The show seems to subconsciously point out that in the underbelly of America, people actually work. They sweat and get dirty and do the same crappy jobs every day. And it is easy to watch and think, “Glad I do not have that job.” But then I realize how much I depend on those people to do those jobs. I need them to do those jobs so that I get to do mine. Or, better yet, I need them so that I can live the way I want to live. Then I saw a cool video online of Mike.

I saw a video presentation of Mike Rowe on Fora.tv. In it he uses his typical profundity and his philosophical mind to explain a realization he had while castrating a lamb in Colorado. It is well worth the twenty minutes to watch. Go here: Mike Rowe on Fora.

What really hit me, though, was this comment: “Innovation without imitation is a complete waste of time. Nobody celebrates imitation.” You see, we typically praise innovation. The news is full of stories about web-based operating systems, electric cars that will change the world, Windows 7, the superiority of Apple products, and other such innovative praises. But do we appreciate that the only reason innovative ideas are worth anything is because they are imitated? Mike points out that iPhones are awesome because someone is able to quickly imitate the process to build them. One iPhone is worthless. Millions and millions of iPhones create a phenomenon.

Imitation is integral to our society. And the show “Dirty Jobs” establishes that. Someone somewhere discovers a process or a product that works and then spends the rest of their life imitating the fulfillment or formation of it. Some of these things are so basic that we take them for granted — things like getting coal out of the ground or milking a cow.

So what about competition and sharing? When we have figured out something it certainly is fair to be compensated for it. But let us not forget that without imitation that innovation is pointless. It must be shared at some point for it to have meaning. Dying with good ideas in your head — ideas that have never been let out — is like being born with a suitcase of money, never opening it, and then tossing it into a fire from your death bed.

Let us share with each other.

For more on Mike and his mission to defeat the civil war America has launched on work, see mikeroweWORKS.com.

Tags: competition, imitation, innovation, mike rowe, Philosophy

This entry was posted by zac on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 5:26 pm and is filed under Leadership, Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.