Inevitably there will be times when you have setbacks or things don t go your way. Maybe you didn't get a job you thought you were sure to get. Maybe you lost a job unexpectedly, didn't win a contract, or lost a major client. Your car always seems to break down right after you've had some other unexpected expense. These kinds of situations immediately place us in crisis. They don t feel good, but sometimes they re what we need in order to grow. The beautiful thing about crises is that they force us to take a step back and reevaluate what s going on in our lives and rediscover what we truly want and need. When we get over that initial shock and feeling of disappointment, we might realize that maybe that job wasn't really the best for us anyway. Maybe, just maybe, that wasn't what you really wanted to spend your life doing. Maybe that friend was holding you back instead of pushing you forward. The way I deal with crises of these sorts is simple: If something doesn't go my way professionally, I try to create a situation that would be more rewarding than the situation originally planned. A while ago, I was offered a job that looked very promising. After I accepted the offer, they pushed the start date back three times, later informing me (via e-mail) that they wanted to bring me on in the near future but I should feel free to explore other options. I was extremely disappointed. I felt disrespected and angry, but decided to make the best of the situation and follow my dream of working internationally. I then flew to Santiago, Chile and had great professional and personal experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise. Later, reflecting back on the original opportunity, I realized that working for a company that avoids a start date three times and then can t pick up the phone to explain the situation is probably not where I need to spend my time. Use setbacks as an opportunity to put your goals in order and act on them. In the moment, it s difficult to look at a setback as temporary, but they are. They happen to everybody. It s how you respond to them that will determine how they affect you.
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If there’s something that you are really bad at doing, why do it? Unless there is absolutely no way you can tap into the strengths of others, you will be much more effective if you focus on the things you do well and rely on others for the things you don’t.
Some people are natural strategic thinkers while others are naturally creative. If you don’t know how to use Adobe Illustrator, let somebody else design your logo. If you can’t count, you should probably let somebody else handle the books. In an organization, it’s more important to execute all aspects well than to exceed in one area and fail in all others.
I’m talking about activities and roles here, not talking about personal development, experience, and character. In this regard, I strongly feel that one should continuously work on developing both their strengths and weaknesses when it comes be being an asset to your organization or community. However, when it comes to getting things done, don’t be averse to collaborating in order to get things done right.
Just because a company has occupied an industry longer than their competitors doesn’t necessarily mean they have a competitive advantage over their competition. Executives and marketing professionals often tout the length of time a company has been in existence as a crucial differentiating factor. The message they are trying to convey is that the time they have occupied in the market has led to them gain an edge over their competitors because they have had the time to gain valuable experience. This is great in theory, but doesn’t always play out so well in reality.
The problem with claiming experience as a differentiating factor is that, put simply, experience is often simply not a differentiating factor. Not all experience is created equal. In fact, a company that enters a market first often assumes extra risk because they have to pioneer that market. What they have to painstakingly learn is often taken for granted by companies that follow, especially when the experience is not proprietary and protected through patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc. Companies that follow have an advantage because they can capitalize on the experience of others and start with newer technologies and schools of thought, which often come more cheaply than the initial round of information, manufacturing plants, software, and other technologies did.
The Android smartphone operating system is a perfect example of how a competitor can enter a market late and become a market leader. Google entered the smartphone OS market much later than competing firms Research In Motion (Blackberry) and Apple. In a landscape where people clamor over features, Google used consumer research data and piggybacked off of the experiences of their competitors to provide an offering to which consumers have quickly responded. As a result, Google’s Android OS is now the leading smartphone OS in the nation. Apple’s iPod all but killed the Sony Walkman, Facebook has passed MySpace to become the largest social networking site, and Twitter has become a social phenomenon. All have done so in a relatively short time. Don’t rest on your laurels. There is always somebody vying for your spot. Complacency has been the downfall of many.
If you work for a company, then you probably know what it means to put the company first. When asked what we do we often reply with, “I do [insert job duties] at [insert company name].” In order to demand control over your life, career, and salary you need to make sure you are effectively marketing yourself as well what you do and who you do it for. At the end of the day, we do business with people. We make decisions based on emotions, not logic. Be the person people want to work with.
Here are some branding questions I always ask (altered to refer to a person instead of a product):
- What are my unique qualities?
- Why should should somebody choose me?
- What is my target market?
- How do I build credibility among my target audience?
- How do I effectively reach my target audience?
- What is important to my target audience?
Seth Godin had this to say about the importance of marketing yourself today.