A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

Not trying to insult you, but do you truly innovate or are you basically a third-party idea extension?

There are thousands of start-ups on these sites and in press releases, most with some level of funding, that are variations on Uber, Twitter, Facebook, Vine, Tinder, Snapchat, Craigslist, Airbnb, Pinterest and a “for” for any other half-successful start-up out there.

Silicon Valley and its clones are following in Hollywood’s footsteps as it continues its sequels, prequels and remakes.

It’s not that some of them won’t succeed and even turn into significant businesses.

And some actually do address real pain (as opposed to inconvenience), but that doesn’t make them truly innovative.

While you have to sell your “innovation” to investors and include it in your vision to excite your employees, at least be honest when you are alone with yourself.

Honest as to its originality and honest regarding the need.

I seriously doubt that providing yet another way to have meaningless sex compares with creating jobs out of poop.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Have you had an opinion lately?

One of your very own, not crowdsourced via social media or validated by others on one of the myriad sites that review everything from what you wear and where you go to what you do and how/when/why you do it?

An article I read today mentioned a 1950 book that described this mindset with eerie accuracy.

People went from being “inner-directed’ to being “outer-directed,” from heeding their own instincts and judgment to depending on the judgments and opinions of tastemakers and trendsetters. Having lost touch with themselves, outer-directed souls were all alone in the midst of other people.

I had to laugh.

Young people love to brag about their individuality and uniqueness; call themselves rebels and scoff at their elders as being stogy and unoriginal.

Actually, it’s just the opposite; always has been if you looked under the hood.

But these days that need to fit in has been taken to extremes never before dreamed of.

Every thought, idea, feeling, attitude, menu, what to buy, where to shop, what to wear, where to eat, movie to see—the list never ends—everything, from the big picture through any and all minutiae is a group decision.

Independent opinions and decisions seem to be the province of (mostly) older folk who aren’t wired to their smartphones, addicted to social media and came of age when thinking for yourself was a sign of intelligence and sophistication.

Your very own opinion—try it, you might just like it.

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