Yesterday Tesla announced they were giving away all their patents. Much has been said about why they did it and why it is important. A key insight here, though, is that this opening of IP is not unlike Universities putting courses online for free. Why would Tesla give away their IP? Isn't it their competitive advantage?
The answer has to do with recognizing that business isn't always about splitting up a pie and fighting for your piece of it. Sometimes the pie can get bigger for everyone. By opening their IP, they not only build a competitive market category, where competition will drive faster innovation, but it allows them to focus on their "why" (Simon Sinek). Tesla is not a car company. That is a "what." And they are not a company that seeks alternative energy products. That is a "how." Their reason for being - their "why" - is their differentiation and it has little to do with the patents and more to do with how they got them in the first place. In much the same way, smart Universities are recognizing that the delivery of lectures and conveyance of information should not be what they are all about. If we (Universities) define ourselves as keepers and conveyers of knowledge, we become all about the "what." Moreover, we lose. We already have lost that battle to the Web, it's just most of us don't know it yet.
We need to give away content, like Tesla is giving away patents, to raise the bar for our entire industry; to spark faster and more impactful innovation in our industry; to allow us to compete and focus on OUR "why." Until we identify that "why" and spend our resources reinforcing it, we are simply playing a losing game of catch-up. Let's follow Tesla's lead and give away our IP. Let's start focusing on why we do this in the first place: our values, our reason for waking up and coming to work, making the world a better place and satisfying our desire to be part of something great and meaningful.
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