The theft of technology and ideas has never been worse. Not a day goes by where the Chinese aren't accused of cyber or technology theft. Theft is rampant abroad and it happens close to home equally as often.

If you have a good idea, be very careful who you share that idea with. Believe it or not your friends and close social acquaintances might be prone to stealing your idea. I know this from personal experience being both the victim and the culprit.

Early in my career I worked at a large multi-national firm in an extremely competitive marketing environment. The company had several teams of employees in their own marketing department and the competition was fierce. Coming up with the next marketing blitz was a major coup for whichever team created it and even more kudos were given to the idea originator.

Needless to say this is a very competitive and cut-throat environment. Idea theft was rampant and because many ideas were stolen, they never reached their full potential. The new corporate motto is "teamwork" but this will only happen when cohorts trust eachother and creativity is nurtured.