You don’t need to invent every good idea. Learn from what already works, then adapt it intelligently.
We often associate success with originality.
Entrepreneurs are encouraged to invent revolutionary businesses. Investors search for insights nobody else has discovered. Managers strive to develop distinctive strategies.
But originality is not necessarily an advantage.
Sometimes the most effective approach is to identify something that already works—and reproduce the principles behind its success.
This is the philosophy of investor Mohnish Pabrai, who proudly describes himself as a shameless cloner.
The Power of Cloning
During a presentation at Ivey Business School in 2012, Pabrai explained:
“When I see someone doing something smart, I will do it. I will adapt.”
Pabrai believes that many people resist copying successful ideas because they associate imitation with a lack of creativity or intelligence.
But this aversion creates an opportunity for those willing to learn from others.
When Pabrai established his investment partnership in 1999, he modeled its structure on Warren Buffett’s earlier investment partnerships, including their unusual approach to management fees.
He also studies the portfolios of accomplished investors to identify potentially attractive investments.
Importantly, Pabrai does not treat their decisions as automatically correct. He filters ideas through his own circle of competence and investigates those he understands.
Cloning provides a shortcut to finding promising ideas—not a substitute for evaluating them.
Why This Matters
The principle extends far beyond investing.
Pabrai frequently highlights Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, as an exceptional cloner who studied competing retailers and adopted their most effective practices.
In a 2025 interview, Pabrai argued that businesses often succeed by improving or adapting established models rather than inventing entirely new ones.
This is consistent with organizational research.
In Why Do Firms Imitate Each Other? (2006), Marvin Lieberman and Shigeru Asaba distinguish between imitation based on information and imitation driven by competitive rivalry.
Following organizations with superior knowledge can reduce the cost of discovering effective approaches.
However, imitation can also spread mistakes, intensify competition, or fail when an approach is transferred to different circumstances.
The value lies not in copying indiscriminately, but in understanding what is worth copying and why it works.
The Practical Principle
When approaching an important business, investment, or personal problem:
- Find the best practitioners. Identify people or organizations with demonstrated success in solving similar problems.
- Study what they actually do. Examine observable decisions, processes, incentives, and results—not merely their public advice.
- Understand why it works. Identify the underlying principles responsible for their success.
- Adapt intelligently. Reproduce the relevant principles while accounting for differences in circumstances, resources, and constraints.
- Verify the results. Test whether the approach works in your situation, and revise it when necessary.
Cloning should respect intellectual-property rights and legitimate ownership. Learning from publicly available methods is different from misappropriating confidential information.
Pabrai’s philosophy challenges the assumption that successful people must generate original ideas.
The objective is not to receive credit for inventing a solution. The objective is to solve the problem effectively.
If someone has already discovered a better way, learn from them.
Don’t reinvent the wheel when you can understand how the best wheel works—and build one that suits your needs.
References
- Pabrai, M. (2012). Cloning Is Key to Investor’s Success. Guest presentation reported by Ivey Business School, February 15.
- Pabrai, M. (2025). Interview at The Diary of a CEO. Conversation with Steven Bartlett, July 13.
- Bang, N., & Murty, N. (2013). Mohnish Pabrai on Cloning as a Strategy. Indian School of Business, October 31.
- Lieberman, M. B., & Asaba, S. (2006). Why Do Firms Imitate Each Other?. Academy of Management Review, 31(2), 366–385.