Whose Is It Anyway? The Ethical Challenge of Intellectual Property
by Ann V. Deaton, Ph.D., PCC
Heather has had her professional coaching web site for six years. One day she does an online search of some key phrases to see how quickly her site comes up in the search engine. To her astonishment, and then anger, Heather discovers that a colleague of hers has adopted many of the specific phrases from Heather's web site. In Heather's view, this colleague has "stolen her work." Yet her attorney says that these cases are very difficult to prosecute and doesn't recommend that Heather incur this cost with such a low likelihood of financial return.
Jake is a new coach. In order to gain more coaching experience and to develop his reputation, he is considering signing on with an existing leadership company to deliver some of their emotional intelligence coaching modules. However, Jake finds himself balking at the intellectual property clause in the agreement. How can he be sure that when he leaves this partnership to start his own company he will be free to include emotional intelligence coaching as one of his offers?
Henry listened with fascination to a presentation on using humor in coaching. He jotted down much of the information, including several quotes from the presenter. Later he did an internet search and discovered that some of these quotes were actually attributed to someone other than the presenter. He wondered whose ideas they were originally, and who was "borrowing" without appropriate attribution.
The digitization of so much information and its easy availability on the web has made it easy to copy from others, to cut and paste their information and claim it as your own. As a coach, it's likely that at some point you will have a question about the limits of intellectual property. You learn and integrate so much information---how can you know when it should be attributed to others and when it has been transformed and integrated with everything else you know and become uniquely yours? Following legal guidelines is fairly easy in comparison to following your own internal moral voice and behaving ethically. Before you cross that fine ethical line, ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I acting in good faith?
- Have I given credit to others when I use their ideas?
- Do I have a spirit of generosity towards others, freely acknowledging their contributions to my work and development?
- What do I do to credit others when I speak and on my web site?
And, when there is an issue with infringement on another's intellectual property, consider mediation by a neutral person as a means of hearing one another and resolving the issue. Your goal is to ensure that each person gets credit for work that is uniquely his/her own. So it's essential to make a commitment to give feedback to and question others when you feel they've infringed on your intellectual property. And it's equally important to be open to learning their perspective and making it right if you've used their property without permission or attribution. Do the ethical thing.
Ann V. Deaton, Ph.D., PCC is a leadership coach with DaVinci Resources. She holds a PCC (Professional Certified Coach) credential from the International Coach Federation. Prior to becoming a coach, Ann received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin and worked in leadership roles in health care settings. As a coach, she focuses on creating environments where individual leaders and organizational teams can learn and grow, often through the use of visual imagery as a modality. In addition to serving on the faculty of UTD's executive coaching program, Ann serves as a leadership coach in Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Business, the Partnership for Nonprofit Excellence, Virginia Health Care Foundation's Leading for the Long Term, NAWBO's Executive Dialogue, and CIA University's Program on Creative Leadership. You can contact her at Ann@DaVinciResources.com or 804-270-6902.