I applaud both the janitor for his initiative and the executive for listening and giving credit where credit is due. I feel like in big companies today, including tech companies that are overly praised for their culture, there is little room for such a story to unfold. More likely than not, someone with initiative has donated their idea and strategy to the company for free, while someone else gets put in charge of executing it, and capturing the career benefits. It’s cynical I know and I’m sure there are counterexamples, but the vast majority of attempts at such initiative don’t go anywhere.