An article on business by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
All I've ever wanted in business is an unfair advantage. Before
you raise your eyebrows, let me define the term. An unfair
advantage is not lying, cheating, or stealing. It's exactly the
opposite. An unfair advantage is doing everything just a little bit
better than your competition. And even if you've been in
business for many years and you're at the top of your profession,
in today's competitive world you also need to do everything just
a little bit better today than you did it yesterday. That's your
unfair advantage.
It's not always easy. Do you remember the movie Staying Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever? (And can
you still dance that way?) It's about how the John Travolta
character pursues a career as a professional dancer, all the highs
and lows (with a little romance thrown in). The last scene is an
incredible dance routine. As my friend Kookie and I danced out
of the theater afterwards, I had a revelation: The trouble with life is
that it's just too short to be good at very many things!
The dedication and discipline that the Travolta character needed
to become a great dancer didn't leave him much time for
anything else.
That's the problem with working and being in business today.
The future belongs to those who are competent in many different areas. To be successful in any industry, you need to be a
technically-adept, charismatic communicator with exceptionally
good work habits, good people skills, and an abundance of
healthy energy. (And it doesn't hurt if also you look good and
dress well.)
There's an old saying, "If you build a better mousetrap, people
will beat a path to your door." That was true once, but not
today. Having the best product or service does not automatically
guarantee you success. That's because:
1. People do business with people they know.
2. People do business with the people who do business with
them.
3. People do business with people their friends talk about.
4. People do business with people they read about.
Start now to develop your own unfair advantage and build your
client base.
HOMEWORK
1. What one thing can you do better than your competition? How
can you let the world know about your advantage?
2. What one activity can you improve on? Decide whether this
improvement is worth the energy it will require. If so, what one
step can you take this week?
3. Learn from the best...and the worst! No matter how long
you've been in the work force, make a list of every boss you've
had. Start with your first job at the age of ten or twelve and go
right through to today. What did you learn from each of these
people, good or bad?
This exercise is especially important if you are now in
management or plan to be. Everyone you've ever worked for can
teach you something, even if it is only to provide you with a
pitiful example of what not to do. "If you want to build a ship,"
wrote pilot- poet Antoine de Saint-Exupery, "don't drum up
people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and
work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of
the sea." How many leaders have gone beyond mere
management to filling you with a yearning for the endless
immensity of opportunities before you? How did they do it?
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