Yet, what do most owners and CEOs (and their companies) focus their marketing (and strategy) on? Exactly! Being better than their competitors. “Our technology is 10% faster than theirs.” “We have the best pizza in town.” “Our bank has the best customer service in our city.” “Our music rocks more than your church’s music.” “Our paper towels are the better picker uppers.” Etc. Etc. Etc. And yawn, yawn, yawn.

I don’t know if you read “Blue Ocean Strategy” or not, but the metaphor that Kim and Mauborgne laid out in that book is perfect for this point. Their main idea was/is that most companies attempt to compete in a red ocean (an ocean filled with competitors where each is extracting blood from the other) which leads to commoditization and low margins/profits. Instead, they argue, you want to create a blue ocean where you’re the only one who does what you do–which also leads to uniqueness and higher margins/profits.

In essence, it’s the same point I’m making here about marketing (and strategy). Whenever you’re focusing your attention on being better than someone else, you’ve automatically defaulted to a red ocean marketing strategy. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that strategy. Being able to claim that your product or service is better by some quantifiable measure (Zyrtex works two hours faster than Claritin) is not a terrible marketing strategy. But it doesn’t get the same attraction and attention that something new does (a la Apple).

Several years ago, Al Ries and Jack Trout, in their book on the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing brought this to the forefront, when they said,

“Everyone is interested in what‘s new. Few people are interested in what‘s better.” — Al Ries and Jack Trout

I can’t say it any better. In fact, you may want to write that statement on a wall somewhere (like in your conference room). Most marketing campaigns and strategy sessions are focused on being “better,” which isn’t bad–it’s just not great. What you want to focus on is “new, because ”everyone“ pays attention to the ”new“ and ”different“ or ”unique“ thing. Better just gets lost.

So, as you take a look at your company’s products and services, what can you add or change to create something ”new“ and ”different“ this year? What can you do to set your company apart from all the others in your market space? What could possibly create a blue ocean moment for you?

Once you identify that, make sure you make that the focus of your marketing (and strategy). Why? Because, ”Everyone is interested in what’s new. Few people are interested in what’s better.“

To your accelerated success!

P.S. Twenty minutes after (originally) posting this, I received an email from Apple with the following image at the top. Notice the key word.

For example, last evening I was setting up a new DVD player for our downstairs TV (the old one had broken) when I noticed the following words on the back of the DVD remote. If you can’t read the words clearly in the picture, they say, “Caution: Replace with fresh batteries of the same kind, observing polarity.”

Now, think about that for a moment. You’ve probably replaced a few batteries in a few different remotes over the course of your lifetime. Is it really that difficult to figure out which end of a battery goes in which direction? Furthermore, even if you are having a bad day and you can’t remember which end goes in which direction, the good news is that virtually every manufacturer gives you a little picture (in the device) of a battery which clearly shows which end goes in which direction.

So, let me ask the most obvious question that someone should have asked (and caught). “If someone can’t figure out how to follow a picture in the device of which direction a battery should be placed . . . do we really think that person would have a clue what the word ‘Polarity,’ is?”

“Ah yes, I was stumped by the diagram of the battery in the remote. But now that they told me to observe the polarity, I’ve figured it out!” I laughed so hard when I saw this.

But lest we get too hard on Panasonic, we all do the same thing. I don’t know any business that hasn’t sent out a message without having a Panasonic remote moment. We think customers want one thing (what we’re offering), but what they really want is another thing (a specific result). Or we’ll use language that we think “everyone knows.” But they don’t.

So, how can you avoid this Panasonic Remote moment? By asking someone outside of your area (or department or company) to read your copy (website, letter, direct mail piece, white paper, blog post, company email, manual, etc.) to give you some feedback. Frequently, they’ll find mistakes you didn’t see. They’ll tighten up your prose (i.e. make your argument more succinct and compelling). And they’ll ask questions you didn’t think of because what seemed so obvious to you, didn’t to them.

So, who do you know whom you can ask to read your copy . . . and trust that they’ll give you honest feedback? As soon as you think of a name, contact them ASAP. You need them more than you can imagine!

To your accelerated success!

P.S. Don’t just look for people who will affirm you and say, “Good job! Run with it!” You want people who will give you real feedback–that is, people who will challenge you, your thinking, and your writing–and who won’t be afraid to say to you, “That’s stupid!” Don’t you wish Panasonic had someone like that?

It’s understandable because leaders lead through their leaders/direct reports. Between meetings and working with and through their direct reports, there’s often very little time left over. Plus, most leaders feel like they’re undercutting their leaders/direct reports if they “go behind the leader’s back” and talk to employees one or two levels down the org chart.

On the other hand, this is disastrous because what gives leaders power isn’t their position but the will of “the people”. And what drives the will of “the people,” or what causes them to want to give power to a leader, is their belief that the leader understands them, cares for them, feels for them, “gets them.”

One of my favorite studies on this subject is related to who wins the election for President of the United States. In every election over the past sixty years, the person who won the election has been the person with the highest “likeability quotient.” For example, JFK over Nixon. LBJ over Humphrey. Regan over Dukakis. Clinton over Bush I. Bush II over Gore and Kerry. Obama over McCain. In other words, forget politics and policies, most people, when they’re in an election booth and have to make a choice, tend to vote for whomever they “like” the most.

In other words, whenever “the people” feel like someone “gets them,” they willingly give power over to that person. But whenever they feel that someone is elitist or doesn’t get them or understand them and their issues, power leaves. Putting politics aside, this is one of the major issues confronting our current president, Barack Obama.

President Obama was voted in on a populist platform where people felt like he understood them and their issues. Unfortunately, two years later, his poll ratings are down almost 20 points, with a higher disapproval rating than an approval rating. Why? For a number of reasons, but if you listen to the comments most people make it’s that they feel he’s “out of touch,” he doesn’t “understand them,” he doesn’t “know what matters to them anymore,” he’s “elitist,” etc.

This same thing happens to owners and CEOs of small and medium-sized businesses all the time. As they grow, they spend all their time with senior executives or their top team or with investors or board members, etc. And then they wonder why their people don’t follow them like they used to. Hello?

Great leaders know they have to frequently be among “the people”. This is why Managing by Wandering Around (MBWA) was such a powerful concept. And I’ve watched it literally transform companies and organizations–small and large. There’s something very powerful that happens when the people of a business or organization feel connected to their leader.

In fact, I was just talking to one of my daughters the other day about her former principal, Suzanne Maxey, whom we all loved. She transformed a school. And one of the ways she did it was she was “among the people.” And she didn’t just show up at events, she valued the input of the students she interacted with (as well as faculty). She “got them.”

In fact, one of my daughter’s favorite practices of Suzanne was that she would often get on the intercom and say something like, “Okay, whoever is in the second row, third seat from the front, please report to the auditorium.” The students would file down to the auditorium and then she’d ask them questions and seek their input (i.e. she held randomly selected focus groups). Suzanne led well for a number of reasons, but one of them was that she was “among the people.” Unfortunately, some of the other principals who have come before her and after her, missed this lesson–to the detriment of the school.

At the end of the day, positional power can only get a leader so far (just ask Tony Howard of BP). What makes a great leader great is that they have referential power; that is, power willingly bestowed upon them–not because of position, but because of choice. And what drives that choice? It’s the belief by “the people” that their leader gets them, likes them, cares for them and understands them.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re running a tech company with $15M in revenue or a multi-national consumer products company with $15B in revenue. If you want to lead well, you need to be among your people. And not just physically, they need to feel you value them, hear them, and understand them.

So, how are you doing at this? How much time each week do you spend with people “down the org chart”? How much time do you spend doing MBWA? How much do your people like you? How much do you like them? What are their major concerns right now? How are you addressing them? Do you “get them”? Do they feel the same?

Remember, if you want to lead well, be among the people. You can’t lead well from a distance. If you’re only meeting with your top level people, you’re missing out. You need to be among the people if you really want to enter the ranks of being a great leader.

To your accelerated success!

I remember, shortly after my board coup several years ago, the movie “Rocky Balboa” came out and in the middle of the movie, Rocky made the following comment to his son,

“It ain’t about how hard you’re hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward–that’s how winning is done!”

I immediately put that quote up on my credenza and still look at it to this day. To me, that’s the power of a great quote. In just a few words, it can say so much.

In light of that, over the July 4th weekend, I decided to create my own favorite quote site. As a consultant and professional speaker, I’m regularly on the look out for great quotes. So, rather than horde them for myself, in the spirit of Tom Peters (when you go to the site, you’ll understand that comment), I’ve decided to make them available to everyone.

So, rather than bore you with more content, let me encourage you to go to the site and read some great inspirational business-oriented quotes. I think you’ll enjoy them! Oh, and the URL is pretty easy to remember

http://www.brucequotes.com

Note: I just created the site Saturday evening so some of the topics only have a few quotes, while others have quite a few. But over time, the approximately 400 quotes will grow. The site is still under 48 hours old. Just bookmark it and return to it whenever you either need some inspiration or you’re putting together a talk or training session and need the perfect quote to make the perfect point.

To your accelerated success!

http://www.brucequotes.com

Why? Because it’s a mistake I see a lot of leaders make (i.e. they don’t apologize–or apologize enough–or apologize soon enough) and they all pay a price for that. It doesn’t matter if you’re the President of the United States or the CEO of a global company (BP anyone?) or the Senior Pastor of a large church or the Managing Partner of a large law firm or the Executive Director of a Non-Profit/Association or the Owner of a five person professional services firm. Most leaders don’t get this–and it’s a mistake.

In the post to my daughters I mention that Leroy Jethro Gibbs (the main character on NCIS if you don’t watch the show) is wrong. His opinion is that apologizing is a sign of weakness and you should never do it. I respectfully disagree. Apologizing isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. And great leaders get this.

In Marshall Goldsmith’s wonderful book on leadership, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (which is a must read), he makes the following statement,

“I regard apologizing as the most magical, healing, restorative gesture human beings can make. It is the centerpiece of my work with executives who want to get better.”

Now, lest you try to brush past this statement quickly, you ought to know that the CEOs Marshall coaches are Fortune 500 CEOs. On the list of the Top 50 Thinkers in Business, he’s number 14. In other words, when Marshall Goldsmith says that the centerpiece in his work with executives who want to get better is to help them learn how to apologize, that’s worth paying attention to.

For years, I’ve taught leaders this same idea–that they should apologize freely and frequently. Why? Because relationships matter. If you’re confident as a leader, then you have the strength to apologize and don’t need to worry about self-preservation or ego. And the amazing thing is that when you do apologize, relationships get stronger and the problem is usually eliminated right then and there.

However, when leaders don’t apologize everything gets worse. Relationships get strained and often sever (and, frequently, for life). Conflicts increase. Trust is broken. Sides are taken. Commitment decreases. New problems arise. Productivity decreases. Etc. In other words, nothing positive happens when leaders choose to not apologize. I’ve literally watched organizations shrivel all because a leader or group of leaders at the top weren’t willing to apologize for what they had done. Amazing!

But apologizing isn’t only the right thing to do because of relationships, it’s also good business practice. For example, in a study at the University of Michigan’s Health System, when they opened the doors for doctors to apologize for a medical error guess what happened? Lawsuits didn’t go up–they went down–and in half! In addition, awards went down as well.

“Apologies for medical errors, along with upfront compensation, (reduces) anger of patients and families, which leads to a reduction in medical malpractice lawsuits and associated defense litigation expenses,” says Doug Wojieszak, spokesman for The Sorry Works! Coalition.

Furthermore, on a practical level, I’ve watched this for years. It’s always been my practice to apologize as quickly as possible. Now, frequently, the issue isn’t over something you’ve actually done wrong, it’s their perception of what you did wrong. In those cases, you can apologize for what it has communicated to them or how it’s affected them. “I’m sorry that when I said … it communicated … to you. That was not my intent at all. And I am truly sorry that it’s negatively affected our relationship.” Apology made. Apology accepted. Conflict ended.

So as you look at your work place and relationships, are there some relationships you need to restore with a long overdue apology? Or is there a decision that you’ve made that has had a negative impact that you haven’t owned up to? Just apologize. And from this point forward, make it your policy to apologize freely, frequently and fast. You’ll be amazed at the impact. Plus, you’ll have just made, “the most magical, healing and restorative gesture a human being can make!” Who can argue with that?

To your accelerated success!

P.S. Yes, there are a few instances where you haven’t done anything wrong and you shouldn’t apologize, but, in general, your default position should be to take responsibility and restore relationships whenever possible.

• Would they be your core values (for ex. respect, responsibility, honesty and service)?
• Would they be a phrase (for ex. “Make it so, #1” in deference to Capt. Jean Luc Picard of Start Trek: The Next Generation fame)?
• Would they be actions (for ex. Farm, Call, Convert, Upsell)?
• Or would they be something else?

It’s an interesting question. If you were to narrow down your business philosophy to just four words, what would they be?

Well, last evening I was perusing Tom Peter’s website and downloaded one of his Power Point ® Presentations (which are free, by the way). As I was reading through a recent speech he gave for Inc. I came across this one slide that simply said,

The four most important words in any organization are, “What do you think?”

I love that!

Note: this was a line from a comment posted on his blog at www.tompeters.com from a guy named Dave Wheeler.

But the reason why I love this slide is because I love the simplicity and power contained in those four simple words, “What do you think?” Having observed and consulted with enough businesses and organizations, I would concur that those four words could/can literally change a company.

As leaders, we so often get stuck in the “It’s my job to have all the answers,” or “It’s my job to come up with solutions to problems,” etc. that we forget that our primary job as leaders is not to have all the answers or to tell everyone the answers, but to leverage the time, talent, resources and INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY of the people in our organization/business to achieve some kind of results.

Even more, when we ask, “What do you think?” what we’re doing is so much more than just asking a question. For example, when you ask your people, “What do you think?”

1. You’re giving your people respect (I value what you have to say, which is why I’ve asked you)
2. You’re training your people to be solutions creators (I want you to help solve this so you can do this in the future)
3. You’re bringing new ideas into the mix (not giving in to your own biases and prejudices)
4. You’re creating buy-in (since people tend to own what they help create)
5. And you’re creating relational capital.

At every juncture, you win as a leader just by remembering to ask, EVERY DAY, “What do you think?

I think Dave is right on. These could easily be the four most important words in any organization.

So … What do you think?

To your accelerated success,

P.S. Either today or tomorrow (depending on when you’re reading this), make it a goal to ask at least FIVE people, “What do you think?” Then do the same thing the next day, and the next day and the next day after that as well.

In other words, before someone starts adding something to the mix to improve execution/implementation, they should first eliminate some of the things that are currently hindering successful implementation. As a typical INTJ, I had a list of 15 hindrances in my notes, but to encourage some more group interaction I decided to ask the leader/managers present to break into groups of three to four people and come up with their own lists of items or issues that hinder execution in their company.

Without betraying confidences, I’m going to combine some of their ideas with some of mine to help get your brain kick started. For example,

• Too many “priorities“ (or conflicting priorities)
• Lack of specificity on the details of who’s responsible for what
• Not enough communication (or unclear communication)
• Lack of trust
• Interruptions
• Poor prioritization of what matters
• Departmental conflicts
• Lack of accountability
• Fear of accountability
• Limited people/resources
• Lack of personal responsibility/commitment
• The complexity of a project (or its size)
• Lack of executive attention
• A tendency to over-analyze (analysis paralysis)
• Lack of ownership
• Lack of excitement about the project, etc.

Now, think about this. If some of these issues are present in your organization, what do you think the probability is that your people are going to execute well? Probably somewhere between zero and nil. It just isn’t going to happen.

Therefore, one of the first places to make changes, if you want to make sure that your team executes better, is to eliminate some of those hindrances. And what I’d recommend is to take this question to your team,

”What hinders us, as a team and company, from executing better and faster?“

Have them brainstorm, while someone writes their ideas on an easel pad (my guess is that ideas will come rather fast and furious–after all, they’ve been thinking about these for years :-). Then, once you have a list, discuss what are the top three hindrances that, if eliminated, would have the greatest impact on increasing our ability to execute.

Then I’d take that list and work, as a team, on creating a plan to eliminate your top three hindrances from your company/organization (i.e. don’t try to fix everything at once. Start with a few items and then expand as you eliminate the current “three”).

Remember, execution doesn’t have to be rocket science. But it does have to be done. So make the list, reduce the list, and then start eliminating the items on the list. Because it’s going to be difficult to create an environment/culture of execution when there are a number of hindrances competing to ensure that execution doesn’t happen.

To your accelerated success!

P.S. You did make that list, didn’t you?

Now, if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I don’t write about technology, I write about what leads to growth. And my audience isn’t techies, it’s owners and CEO’s (or other execs at the top). So, as I listened to Steve’s responses to the questions of Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the All Things Digital (D8) Conference, my ears were tuned into Jobs’ comments related to strategy and leadership, marketing and R&D. And the following would be, IMHO, the most important things he said on that front.

Note: Thanks to Macrumors and Engadget for tracking the conversation.

1. Never Underestimate the Power of Vision.

- On his return to Apple in the ’90s: “Apple was about 90 days from going bankrupt. It was much worse than I thought back then. I expected all the good people had left, but I found many of them still there, and I asked them, “Why are you still here?” They said it was because they believed in Apple.”

In other words, Steve and crew had done such a great job of establishing the culture and vision of Apple, that even when things were going bad under different leadership, great people stayed on. As I say over and over again, you can’t cast vision too much.

2. It’s Okay to Zig When Everyone Else Is Zagging

- On the Adobe Flash controversy: “Apple doesn’t have the resources others have, and we have to choose which horses to ride. We try to ride those that are on the way up. If you choose wisely, you save yourself an enormous amount of work.”

As proof of this strategy, Steve pointed to Apple’s moves over the years (ahead of almost everyone else) to moving to 3.5-inch floppies, to discontinuing floppy drives, to removing serial and parallel ports, to adopting USB, to the current removal of even an optical drive in the MacBook Air. In “typical Jobsian” fashion, Steve concluded by saying, “Sometimes people call us crazy.”

In other words, just because ”everyone“ has something or does something in a certain way, doesn’t mean you have to do it that way. All trailblazers at some point realize that have to break with what ”everyone“ is doing.

3. Be Clear on What Drives Your Company–And Stick With It

- On the future of Apple and “platform wars” with Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc.: “I don’t see it. We never saw ourselves in a platform war with MSFT, and maybe that’s why we lost. We think about the competition, but we’re focused on building a better product.”

Steve is clear on what drives Apple–they’re a product-driven company. They’re not a services-driven company or a knowledge-driven company or a market-driven company etc. They are a product-driven company. When they lost sight of that in the late 80’s and 90’s, they got into trouble. Once they got clear on that again (under Jobs), everything began to change.

4. What You Think Has to Be in a Product/Service Doesn’t

- On tablets: “We did something similar to what we did with the iPhone. We started from scratch and threw out the existing paradigm of handwriting recognition.”

In other words, sometimes, you have to start by deconstructing what you believe to be true. In other words, you have to start from scratch, with a blank slate, and question every part or thing you want to put in to it.

5. Be Willing to Change Your Plans in Response to New Information

At one point, Steve acknowledged that the tablet project (what’s now the iPad) actually came before phone, but realized that phone was more important.

In other words, strategic plans need to be flexible. I’m shocked at how many leaders stick by a plan long after the market is telling them something different. I’m a strategy consultant, and I’m forever reminding leaders that the plan we created last year needs to change as we go through this year. Things change, and what seemed right in October last year, may not be what’s best in June of this year.

6. Stick to Your Values Even When It’s Not Politically In Your Favor

Regarding rejected political cartoon content, Jobs said, “We had a rule that said you can’t defame people. By definition, they defame people.”

Similar to Google’s, ”Do no evil,“ creed, great leaders stick to their values even when it’s not convenient. To me, that’s the real test of a value. For example, are you willing to fire your best producing employee because they’ve broken (and usually consistently broken) a core value? If not, then it’s either not a core value or you’re not doing your job as the leader.

7. Price Aggressively and Go For Volume

During his comments on newspapers, Jobs noted that iPad opens up a way to offer much more than print or static webpages. But he also noted that newspapers should charge less for the online content than their print content … “The biggest lesson Apple has learned is price it aggressively and go for volume.”

So, which of Steve’s lessons do you need to take to heart and apply in your business? Playing out of Jobs’ playbook isn’t a bad strategy to start with. It’s clearly worked for him :-)

To your accelerated success!

Note:If you have some conflict norms of your own–or comments about this video, please leave your thoughts and ideas below!

Moreover, he states that when his company loses a bid or contract, he simple throws away any vestige of that client in their offices and moves on as if that client or bid never existed. In his world, they’ve never lost a bid because if they didn’t get the contract then it isn’t a client they would have wanted to work with.

Besides the fact that I find it hard to believe that his company actually works this way (like they’ve never fired someone for underperforming or they only evaluate based on successes), I find it just bad advice. The reality is that most businesses need to do more learning from failure–not less.

As a consultant, I spend my life walking into companies where problems exist (and they exist in every company, including Bogusky’s). And I have yet to find any company that is really great at evaluation and learning from failure. Most business leaders are so busy trying to stay on top of all their work, that they rarely ever take time to stop and learn from their failures/missed opportunities/mistakes etc. Therefore, they tend to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. As the saying goes (slightly altered),

“Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Now, if a leader or manager is a blamer (i.e. a bad leader or manager) then that is a problem–but not with the idea of learning from failure. Rather it’s a failure of the leader/manager to carry out their job well. Likewise, if they’re creating a culture of fear vs. trust, then that’s a leadership issue, not an evaluation problem.

Great leader/managers know that learning from the past, both positive and negative, is essential to improving and optimizing the future. They understand that if there’s a problem, it’s not a person who’s the problem, it’s the system. And the only way to fix the system is to debrief and make sure that they and their team have learned from what happened so that the same problem isn’t repeated. No learning = ongoing problem.

So don’t listen to Alex on this one. Increase your learning from failure (and success). Invest more time in evaluating what happened so that you can both eliminate/minimize any problems and optimize/leverage any successes. It’s not an either/or. It’s a both/and. And in most cases, there’s not enough learning going on. So I’d argue that you need to increase your learnings so you can increase your successes!

To your accelerated success!

P.S. If you want to know the five questions you should always ask when evaluating, click here>>