Imitate, Then Innovate

Alex: What's up, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Founder’s Journal. I'm Alex Lieberman, co-founder and executive chairman of Morning Brew. Before hopping into the episode, I would love to hear from you; shoot me an email and introduce yourself. There is nothing better than meeting my listeners and learning about them. Just say what up or share a sentence or two about who you are and I will 100% respond to you. My email is alex@morningbrew.com. Now let's get to it. On today's episode, I'm going to break down and analyze an essay by one of my good friends and the super popular internet writer David Perell. David is a prolific content creator, the founder of the very popular writing school Write of Passage, and the host of a writing podcast called How I Write. The essay I'll be sharing is called “Imitate, Then Innovate,” which explores entrepreneurs’ and creatives’ desires to be original, why imitation is core to every world class performer, and why the best way to be original is, ironically enough, by never actually trying to be original in the first place. So without further ado, let's hop into the episode. 

I have two Achilles heels as an entrepreneur. The first is a never-ending difficulty with staying focused, and the second is the desire to be original over time. I have learned that originality is driven by my ego because of some story I have that being original is cool, and being cool will make people like me. But in an effort to be new, first, or inventive, I prevent myself from building things that put customers at the center of all that I do when building my businesses. Now, I know I'm not the only one who seeks originality. It's especially common for entrepreneurs and creatives. So I want to dive deeper by breaking down one of the best essays I've ever read on the tension between imitation versus innovation, and why we all should be seeking to imitate more than we probably are today. The essay is called Imitate, Then Innovate, and it's by my good friend David Perell. I'm going to read my favorite passages from the essay and then share my thoughts and own experiences as they relate to David's words. Let's do it.

 So David starts this piece by emphasizing the importance of imitation and sharing several examples of world-class performers who earned their stripes through years of imitation. He says “it's counterintuitive, but the more we imitate others, the faster we can discover our unique style in the entertainment world. There's a long lineage of comedians who tried to copy each other, failed, and became great themselves. Johnny Carson tried to copy Jack Benny, but failed and won six Emmy awards. Then David Letterman tried to copy Johnny Carson, but failed and became one of America's great television hosts.” Then David demystifies the idea of those that we consider creative geniuses being fully original by talking about one of the greatest directors of all time, Quentin Tarantino. He says, quote, “Hollywood film directors come to mind because they're seen as the essence of what creative professionalism looks like. When people look at Quentin Tarantino, they see a mad creative with a singular talent for making original movies. But Tarantino's originality begins with imitation. He's famous for replicating and building upon scenes from other movies, and he once said, I steal from every single movie I've ever made.” End quote. And by the way, the same idea of imitation leading to originality applies to every profession, especially entrepreneurs. 

David references Steve Jobs, who many would argue as one of the most original entrepreneurs of our generation. He says, quote, “Steve Jobs famously pulled from Star Trek to design the iPad, and early concepts for FaceTime appeared in 2001: A Space Odyssey.” End quote. So let's pause for a second. As I reflect on what I just read, I am struck by two fundamental questions you need to be asking yourself if you put weight in being original or innovative as you build your business. Let's take them one by one. 

The first question: If the best creatives and entrepreneurs of all time admit to copying and imitating throughout their career, why do you think you are capable of finding success without imitation? And I believe the answer is very simple, and I'll also say I'm the most guilty of it. Ego. I've always said that I like creating totally new things because it feels good to be inventive and do things that people haven't done before. But then if I ask myself, why does it feel good to be original? I am forced to face an obvious ugly truth. It feels good because I subconsciously associate originality with deep respect from the world, and as someone who fears not being liked or valued, if originality leads to being respected, then I'll always be drawn to something that makes me feel valued. Now, here's the funny part about the whole thing. If I look back at my one big career win, Morning Brew, there's really nothing original about it. Business news has existed since the 1700s and email has been around since the 1970s, and that is exactly why it worked. We did something that we already knew there would be foundational demand for; our real genius was copying in an original way. Business news and email had been around, but they had never been combined in a way that felt right for the young consumer we were going after. On top of that, this whole thing is also funny because my desire for originality absolutely stems from wanting to emulate quote unquote “visionary entrepreneurs” like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and others. But if all of these people copied others throughout their career and simply added their spin, obviously that's what I should be doing as well.

Now before moving on to the second fundamental question, I want to share David Perell's deeper thoughts on what he calls quote unquote “the originality disease,” which he describes as a pervasive plague that makes creators feel scared to imitate other people's styles. David says, quote, “I have three explanations. The first is pretty clear: misunderstanding inspiration. Some of the juiciest inspiration comes from admiring and maybe even reverse engineering other people's work. But many people think inspiration needs to strike out of thin air like a bolt of lightning. They fear that the muses of novelty won't visit them if their mind is contaminated with what's been done before. In blind pursuit of originality, they avoid studying anything that's come before them out of a fear of tainting their minds with the stain of influence rather than standing on the shoulders of people who have come before them. They look within themselves for a breakthrough idea. 

The second is more subtle: fetishizing originality. I think this part of the disease comes from academia, where people do study those who have come before them, but only so they can do something different. Since scholarly journals insist on original contributions, academics are incentivized to study things nobody else is studying. The challenge, though, is that originality and usefulness are not the same thing. I worry that academics are so focused on checking the quote unquote “nobody's ever written about this before” box that they sometimes forget to make useful contributions to human knowledge. 

The third is pure conjecture: self obsession. Perhaps our originality disease has its roots in Freud's work, which still underpins our model of human psychology. To the extent that ideas like the ego and the subconscious seem trivial, it's only because they've been so influential. Freud's ideas basically went viral and as they did, made their way to Salvador Dali, who led Europe's surrealist painting movement. Instead of trying to capture reality like the realists or interpret it like the impressionists, the surrealists went inward and painted the landscape of their own consciousness. They rejected logic and reason in favor of dream-inspired visions.” End quote. Well, the third explanation sounds familiar, right? Self obsession and ego are absolutely what have driven me to seek originality in my own career. But the first explanation by David is worth quickly exploring as well. Before we move to the second big question, when people have asked me why my co-founder and I succeeded in building our business, Morning Brew, despite being college students and having no media experience, I would always say the same thing: naivete, because we didn't know what the status quo was. We weren't limited to status quo thinking that has historically plagued the media industry. But after reading this essay, I actually believe there's some danger to my answer. I do not now think that being unaware of the status quo is what allowed us to be different. I think what allowed us to be different is that we didn't assume any quote unquote “industry truth” to actually be true until we verified it for ourselves. 

And this is a perfect segue to the second fundamental question worth asking yourself as you listen to this episode. And that question is, assuming you now appreciate the importance of imitation, how can you imitate well, meaning when does it make sense to imitate versus iterate or innovate? Here's how David Perell frames it. He says, quote, “As it turns out, getting the originality disease isn't a good way to become original. Rarely is a creator so stuck as when they feel their ideas aren't original enough. The mere presence of this thought can send them into a downward inner spiral because of the way pursuing originality too directly can lead to its exact opposite. Those who hold originality as their highest virtue are bound to either get stuck or create nothing of substance.” End quote.

What this means to me is that the most original people are never those that are trying to be original. And in fact, I think there's a core formula of attributes that ironically can be imitated that lead to unintentional earned originality. So let's go through these four ingredients. The first ingredient is active observation. I was struck by the way that Perell described Quentin Tarantino's experience watching movies and how it's different from most others. Quote, “He was attentive to all the tiny details, from the way the musical score enhanced the film's emotional journey to the way light moved across the actors' faces to the way camera movements foreshadowed upcoming plot developments. Listening to him reflect on the film, I had to ask, did he even watch the same movie? I felt like I was stuck in flatland while he lived in four dimensional space. From him, I learned that creators consume art differently than consumers. They're far more intentional in what they consume. Consuming art is productive work for them. Directors watch movies not just to be entertained, but also to see how they are made. Consciously or not, they're developing their own mental Pinterest board of ideas to borrow and build upon in their own work.” End quote. Just as listening is the active version of hearing, I think there are two forms of observation, and the vast majority of people spend the vast majority of their time observing as passive consumers versus active creators. I also believe to be a great entrepreneur is to be an active observer, constantly sponging the world for inspiration around you. 

The second ingredient is using two forms of imitation as weapons in your arsenal. Perell describes them really well where he says, quote, “There are two kinds of imitation: near imitation and far imitation. When most people think of imitation, they think of near imitation. This is when you imitate people who do similar work to you. It's what Hunter S. Thompson was doing when he rewrote every word of The Great Gatsby. It's what musicians do when they practice their scales, and it's what Kobe Bryant was doing when he studied and adopted the moves of history's greatest basketball players. In fact, Kobe once said, I seriously have stolen all my moves from the greatest players.

But far imitations, transferring ideas from one domain to another, can be just as useful. Sigmund Freud's interpretation of dreams is known as one of the most original works of psychology ever created, but most people aren't aware of how much he pulled from Nietzsche. Concepts like repression, instinctual drives, the unconscious mind, and the symbolism of dreams are rooted in Nietzsche's work. The premise of my essay about Peter Thiel is that his investment approach is really the practical application of Rene Gerard's philosophy. You can do something similar, like Thiel. You can be innovative in what you choose to imitate.” End quote. 

Simply put, near imitation is what everyone thinks of when they think of copying. First of all, copying isn't bad and everyone does copy. But I think the more powerful version of imitation is far imitation, where you can make something unoriginal original simply by transporting it across context. Far imitation can happen cross field, cross generation, cross customer segment, cross content channel, et cetera, which is why the best type of innovation is actually in who you choose to imitate. 

Let's move on to the third ingredient. The third ingredient is biasing towards truth. In the same way, you shouldn't seek to be original for the sake of being original. You also shouldn't seek to imitate just for the sake of imitation. Imitation should be confirmed in the same way. Any form of status quo should be confirmed. But once it is, imitation is an amazing way to save time and avoid errors by standing on the shoulders of giants who made all of the mistakes or went through the painstaking process of considering every possible decision that you would also have to do if you weren't imitating them. Perell says, quote, “In the words of CS Lewis, who is famous for the vivid imagination he presented in stories like The Chronicles of Narnia, no man who cares about originality will ever be original. It's the man who's only thinking about doing a good job or telling the truth who becomes really original and doesn't notice it.” End quote.

And of course, the great irony of this whole essay, an essay that is focused on imitation and innovation, is that neither of these things should actually be the focus of the entrepreneur. Rather, the focus should be on finding the truth and building the product that leads to the best outcome for whatever it is that you're creating or building, copying others near or far, or putting your own spin on something. These are all simply tools that you use to create the true best thing for your customer or end user. 

And that leads us to the fourth and final ingredient: having a deep focus on customers and their problems. Beyond the fact that all world-class entrepreneurs and creators imitate the work of others constantly, they are all exceptionally oriented towards the end user. They don't create their work for themselves or their egos. They create to solve the problems and create the best experiences possible. Imitation or originality are simply, like I said, just tools that are used in service of serving the customer. And that is “Imitate, Then Innovate” by David Perell. If you wanna read the full essay, make sure to check it out in the show notes. And as always, thank you so much for listening to Founder’s Journal, and I'll catch you next episode.