With rumors of the iPad 2 dropping this month, startups are asking after the specs and features it will feature. Everyone is looking for the inside scoop, because once they get that, and if they get it before everyone else, they can get a jump on building the next big thing. There are probably even people trying to get details onthe iPhone 5.

I remain unconvinced. If you want to engage in insider trading, then yes, you've got to find someone on the inside who's privy to information to which the rest of us don't have access. But that's not only illegal and probably a bad idea, but the overwhelming majority of innovations in history didn't come from people with exclusive access to protected or confidential information. They came from people with access to the same information as all of us, but with the vision to realize that something new could be done with it.

Anyone could have started Starbucks. It wasn't as though there was a secret gourmet coffee society that Howard Schultz was a part of that clued him in to upcoming trends. He didn't read the secret writing on the wall only because he knew the secret handshake. There was no writing and no handshake, just his own imagination and the follow-through on an idea.

You're already in the know, whether you want to admit it or not. The only question is whether you're going to choose to do anything about it.