Update: I've returned from my San Francisco trip. I've visited long-time friends, attended a birthday party for nine year-old Sarai, and had a little too much to eat. Now it's time to get back to work and to work off the pounds.

Feature Article: Don't Give Away the Farm

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For Fashion Conscious Men...

I read a little blurb from Michael Masterson's newsletter offering fashion advice for men. It went like this:

"I began to notice it last year. This year, it's obvious. Brown is definitely in. Various shades of brown have replaced black as the 'correct' color for shoes, belts, and leather accessories. That's for fashion-conscious men, of course.

"Three bits of evidence:

"In the current Barneys New York catalog, 16 out of 22 shoes featured are brown.
The new catalog from Ermenegildo Zegna features a brown shoe on the front cover.
At J. Crew's cool new VIP shop in SoHo, at least half the belts and wallets are brown. You heard it here. You know what you have to do."

I beg to differ because I don't believe in a cookie-cutter formula for anything. I believe you should wear the colors that flatter you, matches your outfit, and makes you feel good about yourself. One size or one color doesn't necessarily work for all.

This goes back to the difference between leaders and followers. A leader sets trends. A follower waits to jump on the bandwagon. Both are important. Which one are you?

Don't Give Away the Farm

Dear Associate,

A colleague named Doug sent me a link to a project that calls for individual ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible. He was pumped and shared his business proposal with me. I thought this was a brilliant concept and began brainstorming my own proposal.

Then I ran into a brick wall...

I read the terms of service agreement and decided this wouldn't work for me. The language favored the big money project originator and did little for the idea originator. In fact, it seems as if you'd be signing your idea away. Which can mean little or no personal compensation to you for a project that's supposed to change the world.

Here is the section that was in question...

"Intellectual property rights: You warrant and represent that any content you submit is your original creation and does not infringe any third party rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, privacy, and publicity, and that the content is not otherwise illegal or made or submitted in violation of any contractual obligation you might have with a third party.

"As between you and XYZ, you retain ownership of any intellectual and industrial property rights (including moral rights) you have in and to your submission.

"As a condition of participation, you grant XYZ, its subsidiaries, agents and partner companies, a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, adapt, modify, publish, distribute, publicly perform, create a derivative work from, and publicly display your submission and the proposal provided therein (1) for the purposes of allowing XYZ, the advisory panel and users to evaluate your idea for purposes of the call for submissions, (2) in connection with advertising and promotion via communication to the public or other groups, including, but not limited to, the right to make screenshots, animations and video clips available for promotional purposes and (3) for the purposes of putting your submitted proposal into effect.

"You agree that XYZ has final authority regarding this call for submission and the selection of the ideas to be considered for implementation. You acknowledge that your submission might be similar to ideas submitted by other participants and/or proposals independently developed by XYZ, and that XYZ does not need to recognize your submission should your idea not be the source of the proposal or proposals ultimately implemented. You further acknowledge that even if your proposal is selected by XYZ, XYZ is not compelled to implement your proposal in its entirety, or at all. XYZ reserves the right in its sole discretion to incorporate your proposal or any other ideas into the project or projects finally selected for implementation."

Can you believe the audacity of this giant corporation? Use your idea and then maybe compensate you. And if new profitable programs develop from your idea your services may not be needed any longer. They sound like business pirates — not partners.

This often happens when book authors sign contracts with major publishers without reading the entire contract. They're so excited to get a publishing deal they often sign their rights away to the publisher. Once that happens the author gets zero compensation from any ancillary products.

I wrote Doug and stated I couldn't agree with the terms:

"XYZ has a great concept. But they also have profit motives. And that's okay too. But I will not agree to their intelligent property rights section of their terms of service. It gives them the right to manipulate the agreement in their favor. And, at any given time, they may no longer want or need you."

He wrote back:

"Right, I see. There's always an out for the corporation. I have to agree before anything happens so we'll see if I get a response. I want to make money too but I can't give away the farm either. Thanks for your insight and concern. If anything comes of it, I will absolutely let you know so we can talk about it."

While an entity like XYZ can bring your idea to the forefront quickly — you'd want to have some say in how you get compensated. It should be fair for both parties. Not lop-sided as in this agreement.

Warm regards,