Be Different or be dead

June 25, 2018

6 surprising things people never knew about making a mistake

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6 surprising things people never knew about making a mistake.

How often do you remember being praised for making a mistake? When you screw up, does the person you admire and respect congratulate you and lavish you with attaboys?

I can’t recall EVER being rewarded for a miscue; it wasn’t — and still isn’t — the acceptable thing to do.

Our entire life we have been taught to not make mistakes, from school to work. Get 100% on the exam and develop a perfect strategy for the organization you work for. And when we fall short of those expectations we are forced into remedial work to correct the things we did wrong so that the next time we will get them right.

It’s all wrong. Human beings make mistakes; some more than others but everyone screws up at one time or another.

To try and eradicate mistake making is senseless, unproductive and misses an opportunity to turn the “failure” into an epic win.

As long as we are going to make mistakes shouldn’t our academic institutions and organizations be teaching people how to turn them into amazing outcomes rather than scolding them for doing it? NO! because the teaching narrative is always about “do it right the first time” and be perfect.

Schools don’t get it.

The tools to at least have a good chance of achieving a position result remain a secret in the hallowed halls of our teaching institutions. “How to make the best out of a mistake” doesn’t appear on any school curricula or on any organization’s internal training agenda.

So, we are left with the enigma of teaching and expecting perfection in a world where unpredictability and uncertainty govern the dynamics of our environment and human beings are left to survive its forces.

An impossible task without making mistakes.

Weirdly, the mistake has a profound impact on our lives.

The mistake is the best teacher you’ve ever had

When you get something right, you receive positive reinforcement and a satisfied feeling of achievement, but when you get something wrong, there is an even more powerful emotional impact that motivates us to “fix it” and prevent it from happening again.

In particular, a setback on a real world issue where the consequences can include a loss of a relationship, a furious customer or a loss of revenue can motivate us to get it right much quicker than merely getting the third question on a math exam wrong.

The mistake can make you better off

Ironically, a mistake that is fixed fast can improve your situation more than if you never made the mistake in the first place. Proper recovery from a mishap — repair the situation fast and then do something extra — can build customer loyalty or enhance a personal relationship. The recipient of your mistake is so impressed with what you did to remedy the situation they soon forget about the OOPS! that caused them the original discomfort.

The mistake can make you more human

A mistake shows that you are more than superficial veneer; someone who is flawed just like everyone else. This is an endearing trait to most people as compared to the phoney slick image that some people like to portray. Humans are liked and respected more than plastic; the mistake fortifies the former and dispels the latter.

The mistake can build your personal brand

The ability to morph a “bad” situation into a delightful one is a personal brand dimension that few people possess. An individual who can turn a mess into a positive outcome is extremely valuable to an organization struggling to weave their way through complex and uncertain markets.

The mistake forces you to look for another path

It stimulates the creative process to explore other potential avenues to take. In fact it’s not about the mistake at all; rather the moment after the mistake. Problem solving in today’s environment requires nimbleness and the flexibility to consider all options available, and the mistake brings this to life in a very real way. You have no choice but to look for another plan if you are to move forward.

The mistake is the visceral reminder that you must always have “Plan B” available.

The mistake can separate you from the crowd

BE DiFFERENT or be dead is my mantra. If you can’t find a way to separate yourself — as an organization or individual — from the crowd, you will go unnoticed and sooner or later you will fail. The mistake can be the catalyst for discovering how you can standout from other people who are totally consumed with trying to get things right that leave themselves exposed and vulnerable when things go wrong (and they eventually do).

If you excel at squeezing the best from a mistake you will be truly unique in a sea of others struggling with trying to achieve perfection.

Learning how to prevent mistakes is a laudable goal but an unachievable one; learning how to live with them is essential if you want to be successful.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.25.18 at 03:57 am by Roy Osing
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June 11, 2018

6 absolutely insane actions that will kill your business growth

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6 absolutely insane actions that will kill your business growth.

Every organization wants to grow; the way they hope to achieve it is by gaining a sustainable strategic advantage over their competitors.

However in my experience I find that many of the more common practices used by organizations are actually counterproductive to the intent of achieving an unmatched position in the marketplace — they work against the intent of standing out from everyone else. They don’t actually represent an effective way to achieve a growth imperative.

The practices below are typically followed by most organizations today. They are very common yet, ironically, they are positioned as an aid to help differentiate an organization from their competitors yet they have the opposite effect.

The very fact that they are followed by the masses means that they can’t possibly create uniqueness, they create sameness.
They serve no strategic driver; they typically are a response to either internal interests — keeping costs down — or with the belief that since the experts — academics or strategy advisors — advocate them, they must surely work as a means to differentiate and grow.
But they don’t.

These are the common tactics organizations employ to grow their business.

Avoid them at all cost.

They will only stunt growth.

1. Following others — Looking to another organization for new ideas and believing that this approach will grow a business — commonly referred to as employing best practices.
The process is well known: find a best in class organization that does what you want to do and incorporate their methods and solutions into how you do business.

And there seems to be a halo effect around applying best practices. It’s almost like you are wise and creative to be in the best practice copying game. You are somehow among the elite if you are ‘applying best practices’.

The problem is that strategic advantage is achieved by innovating and by being different from the competition.
The best practices approach may help improve operational processes but it will never produce strategic benefits — it’s not a strategic driver of long term growth.

2. Snubbing the frontline — Treating the frontline as if they were at the bottom of organization. And in frontline positions, applying modest recruiting standards with minimum skill and competency prerequisites.

The problem is strategic advantage is determined by how well an organization executes, and this is largely in the hands of frontline employees. Treating them as second class citizens encourages them to deliver second class results.

On the other hand, if they meet high standards and are honoured in their work, they will catapult any organization ahead of any competitor.

3. Outsourcing — Managing call centers to control costs. Maximizing throughput and productivity. Rewarding employees who take the most number of calls and spend the least amount of time on each call.

The problem is strategic advantage is achieved by creating memorable experiences for customers; this is rarely achieved by imposing internal productivity constraints on the customer transaction. Rather a WOW! experience happens when the customer is amazed with the outcome of the call.

Treat the call center as a customer loyalty center to create an advantage.

4. Pursuing mass markets — Searching for opportunities in mass markets. Pushing solutions to as large a market cross section possible.
Looking for lowest common denominator solutions that apply to the masses to maximize competitive market share.

The problem is strategic advantage is earned by discovering and satisfying the unique wants and desires of individuals not by flogging products to the masses. It’s gained by maximizing the share of wallet not share of market.

It’s the result of serving the chosen customer group so they never leave.

5. Offering special deals to get new customers — Prioritizing new customer acquisition to fuel revenue growth. Trying to gain new customers by enticing them from their current suppliers through special deals and promotional offers -  ‘With every purchase of our internet service you will receive a free flat screen TV.’

The problem is strategic advantage requires a healthy base of existing customers who are loyal and willing to be an active source of new business referrals. Offering special deals to attract new customers while ignoring current ones can lose business and destroy market position.

6. Paying too much attention to the strategy — Spending too much time seeking the perfect plan. The strategy doesn’t deliver results; brilliant execution does.
Yet so much time and attention is paid to formulating the perfect plan using all of the sophisticated tools available, with the underlying belief and expectation that if the strategy uses the rigour of the state of the art toolbox then it must somehow be right — and get closer to perfection.

I have been involved in many painful planning sessions where we have tried to squeeze another 10% more accuracy out of our plan to no avail rather than use our time to determine how to implement the imperfect plan that we had created to that point.

Absolute rubbish.

Competitive advantage is achieved by organizations that can execute imperfection brilliantly not by the efficacy of their strategic intent.

Take a close look at the portfolio of tactics used in your organization to gain strategic advantage; make sure you’re not fooling yourself.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.11.18 at 04:04 am by Roy Osing
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May 21, 2018

The right mindset for success can be achieved in 5 easy ways

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The right mindset for success can be achieved in 5 easy ways.

How do successful people do it?

It’s not luck or serendipity.

Successful people generally do not fall into a bucket of poop and consistently come out smelling like a rose; it might occur occasionally but that’s about it.

People who are consistently on the top of their game and who outrun everyone else have a deliberate game plan to do it; a game plan that is focused on creating and unleashing the energy they need to consistently bring their “A” game.

They have their plan mapped out in their head and they play it out every day in the field; their plan is a natural expression of who they are and they execute it involuntarily.

The energy source for each individual varies according to their specific makeup; my energy and drive has always come from constantly looking for opportunities to be different from others in everything I did.

My intent was not to necessarily be better than someone else — relying on a comparative like “better” is a slippery slope because it relies on the judgement of the person observing what you did — but to do things with my own personal twist that would surprise whomever was witnessing my actions with the result that they would notice me in a crowd of my peers and colleagues.

My ‘be different’ action plan became second nature to me; I lived it every moment of very day.

These steps were the essence of my approach.

#1. Ask yourself how the task at hand can be done differently

Before undertaking a project or responding to a request from your boss, consciously ask yourself “How can I do this differently from how others might approach it?” Generally, the crowd approaches tasks the same way; they apply common, textbook problem solving approaches to provide the answer to the problem they have been asked to solve.

They consult the experts; see how they recommend performing the task and they attempt to do it in the prescribed way.
My mindset was always to balk at the normal way a task might be accomplished and look for a ‘different box’ style of achieving the desired result. It’s not the easiest way to attack the challenge you’ve been given, but it’s the right way.

#2. Look for little things

Being different isn’t necessarily about making a quantum leap between the common prescribed method and how you decide to tackle a job.
In virtually every task I was given, it usually came down to a number of little differentiators between my work and how others performed their task. Rarely did I surprise my boss with a silver bullet.

Some “little thing” examples include:
— providing more rigorous analysis than what was required.
— producing a report with more visuals than numbers.
— personalizing my findings to reflect the special attitudes of my internal client.
— getting buy-in from a broader set of cross functional stakeholders than was expected.
— utilizing a project management structure that included high currency individuals from the departments depending on the results.
— having a celebration when a project was successfully completed; buying dinner.
— publicly recognizing the high achievers to the organization so they had the limelight.

#3. Resist the temptation to copy best practises

When someone says to me “My solution is based on sales best practises”, my eyes glaze over and I feel like taking a nap. I’m not looking for a solution-of-the-herd mentality; what I want to see is a result that is the expression of the person’s individuality .
I want to see creativity with a healthy dose of risk taking — a best practice solution is probably less risky but offers little in terms of an innovative mind set and will NEVER surprise anyone.

So, follow best practices at your own peril. It will secure your position in the herd and help you blend in with everyone else — a mindset for success will never come a copycat mentality.

#4. Go against the flow

One of the simplest ways to exercise your be different energy is to consider doing the opposite to the way you expect others to go.
If you expect the crowd to do a quick and dirty evaluation of a particular course of action, “go deep” and evaluate it from several alternative perspectives.

If you expect others will present their plan as the product of their individual efforts, choreograph your presentation to include stakeholders who will be the beneficiaries of the plan.
The point is, always be asking yourself “What if I did a 180 and go against the flow?”

#5. Keep the pressure on yourself

It’s really easy to lose momentum on anything these days when you are pressured with conflicting priorities, more demands of your time than hours available and the increasing expectations of leadership — it’s easy to lose your way.

I had a ritual that I performed every day to keep my energy source alive and well even though chaos surrounded me. My mantra was ‘feel different’ and I repeated it to myself every morning.

I know it sounds corny but it’s essential to discover some gimmick that will keep your thinking straight when things over which you have little or no control constantly toss you about and try to force you from your game plan.

The right mindset for success is probably different from one person to the next.

For me, it is based on the energy I get from trying to be different from everyone else.

To be honest, some days it works better than others but over my 30+ career and my personal life it has served me well.

In fact, I have four amazing grandchildren who I am sure see their Papa as a bit crazy and different; I hope they never lose that perspective.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 5.21.18 at 04:21 am by Roy Osing
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April 23, 2018

Spectacular new ideas have a strong social purpose

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The entrepreneur’s dream is to launch THE new product idea that will “change the world”.

Aspirations, however, must be tempered by the reality that less than half of startups survive five years — the kill rate is high.

At the heart of whether or not the entrepreneur survives is the nature of the idea itself, the problem it solves and how it compares to other ideas and solutions in the market.

Successful new ideas must serve a compelling purpose and be different

The success of a new idea starts with the purpose it serves and ends with it’s uniqueness . The mind blowing new idea has to serve a relevant, compelling, easily understandable purpose and it needs to be different from competitive alternatives.

And, on the other hand, a new idea that is simply different won’t necessarily be a winner if it doesn’t easily resonate with people as having huge benefits that could be realized by many people.

There are two bookends that describe new ideas: one is an idea that addresses a narrow specific need. These tend to be innovations targeted at a small specific application. Go to the App Store to see some examples — different types of keyboards, music apps, photo apps and a plethora of others targeted at niche demand.

At the other end of the spectrum is an idea that addresses a broad purpose and is often driven by societal problems.

eBrake is an example of a new idea that is a unique solution to the distracted driving problem where drivers use their mobile devices to text, email, watch videos, post on social media and engage with practically every other app that takes their mind off the road.

Both niche and broad spectrum new ideas are valid, but eBrake is likely to outperform the more micro specialized solutions for these reasons.

1. Distracted driving kills people

It addresses a broad compelling need. It’s common knowledge that distracted driving causes more traffic accidents and deaths than any other cause. Worldwide media are constantly reporting on the problem and what governments are doing to solve it. Social media as well keeps the topic alive.

2. eBrake talks to many people

It resonates with multiple market segments; it’s a special solution for many types of applications.
eBrake’s flexibility to deal with many segments needing a distracted driving solution is appealing, whether you are a parent concerned about your new driver or an organization with a substantial fleet operation.

3. A 10 year old could explain it

It’s easy to explain. Everyone knows what the distracted driving problem is all about and how the problem can be solved by locking out the driver’s phone while they are driving. eBrake does this while allowing passengers the use of their phones.
In less than a minute eBrake can be explained in simple terms that people understand and, what’s even more important, they can explain it to their friends and family in the same way.

4. It’s the only real distracted driving solution

It’s the only solution that does what it does. There is no other solution that does what eBrake does.
In fact eBrake is the only REAL solution to distracted driving because, unlike other solutions in the market, the app can’t be turned off by the driver. People get that if the driver can turn the app off, it provides no solution at all as the driver can simply text away to their heart’s content.

New niche oriented ideas that can be clearly differentiated from a competitive product can be successful but the energy and resources to turn them into profitable businesses is significant. And the investment required could exceed the time one has available to “stay alive”.

5. Find an idea with HUGE social appeal

In these cases the key to success is not simply being different; rather it’s about simplicity of the value proposition and the social narrative it serves.

Better to find an idea that has HUGE social appeal — large potential market available — and can be explained by a 10 year old.
And one where the cool technology isn’t relied on to sell it; rather the technology merely sits in the background doing what it should do — making the new idea work.

Serve a compelling social need in a way that is different than any other solution and you will indeed have a big idea that could — but not guarantee — win you the lottery.

But it has a better chance than a new niche idea that may be cool but doesn’t have the emotional appeal and potential critical mass to attract massive interest.

Cheers,
Roy
Checkout my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.23.18 at 04:07 am by Roy Osing
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