Steve Jobs is often shown as a revolutionary figure who changed how we use technology. In reality, he stood on the shoulders of the many unseen engineers, students, and scientists who worked for decades to build the technology he improved upon.

When you look at great geniuses like Newton, for example, it can be easy to imagine that their ideas and work came exclusively out of their minds. But that is seldom how it works.

We get to see further than our predecessors, not because we have a greater vision or greater height, but because we are lifted on their gigantic stature.

Why can't people come up with their own ideas? Why do many people come up with great ideas but don't profit from it?

'Not invented here syndrome' is a term for situations when we avoid using ideas, products, or data created by someone else, and instead develop our own even if it is more expensive, time-consuming, and of lower quality.

Technology, art, and other advances are only possible because someone else has laid the groundwork.