Saying “I got that idea from a friend” doesn’t make you less smart. It makes you trustworthy.

Attribution costs you almost nothing and buys something durable. People assume good ideas come from a mixture of places anyway, so claiming a borrowed one raises your standing very little, while being known as the person who says where things came from changes how everything else you report is heard.

Name the source next time you pass on something good, by name, in the same breath. It takes four words. Watch how quickly people start bringing you their ideas, which is the part that actually makes you look clever.