Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Crystal Ball Glazing - Part II

In this article, we look at how one can consistently outperform the competition leveraging on quality, care, gumption...
We begin with beliefs - that good will triumph over bad, that excellence will overwhelm mediocrity, that passion will carry the day.

We need to envision the ends in order to will the means. By this we mean that there must be set of beliefs that will carry us through the journey.

Conventionally, successful value proposition is measured by the degree of traction, depth of management and having a good exit strategy. These are excellent yardsticks by which to determine as to whether we are spending our precious time well. This brings us to the point about creating value. In other words, why do you want to put your money at risk when the expected return is less than the cost of capital?

Well, the clue lies in how people think and act. They do expect a higher return but act with a short term vision which is let's get the business first by competing on price and then go figure how later how to make a profit. This pathway invariably will point you down the slippery road of mediocrity, indifferent attitude ... and you devote a significant amount of your precious time doing things that you really do not want to do. And to add insult to injury, you cannot even cover costs, let alone a value creating exit. You are either eluding yourself or leading your stakeholders down the same value destruction pathway. Not a hallmark of good leadership.

You would want to select your customers very carefully and winning them over. Very similar to you wanting to enjoy your golf game and play passionately with a flight of like-minded mates - unless you intend to shark them ... if that been the case... what do you think your flight mates will be doing? The outcome will be a comical tragedy with everyone attempting to skin everyone else, a never ending down spiral until you reach an equilibrium. A position that you have no desire to be in and yet finding that you have run out of options to get yourself out of the hole you have dug for yourself. Not a sustainable value proposition.

In order to win over your valued customers, you need to keep to your core ideology -one that holds true despite the ups and downs. That brings us back to the points about quality, care and gumption.

When you deliver something passionately, with gumption and compelling, it shows that you care and this will definitely move your audience. And when you continuously live by this conviction, people will come to appreciate your sincerity and it is always an winning proposition for people want to experience quality moments in their own journeys.

This is a winning way to consistently outperform the competition.

Keywords: quality, value systems, trust, domain knowledge, technology, networking, maven traps, speed of trust, lifestyle




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