The Landmark Blog

What Makes You Different?

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My teenage years were in the 1980's.  The era of odd synthetic fashion and tight pants, extreme hair styles, hair bands, punk, new-wave, breakdancing and early hip-hop music, MTV, VCR and the cassette tape, neon and uninhibited materialism, Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the end to the Berlin Wall. 

I was actually in high school in the late 1980's when new wave and hair bands had a strangle hold on American culture.  I grew up in a rural city in the West.  My town was filled with tight pants, waffle-stompers (also called Keg Boots), tight t-shirts and feathered mullets (guys) or REALLY REALLY REALLY big feathery hair (girls).  Big trucks with even bigger lifts reigned and a European car was unheard of.  Local radio stations gave you the choice of hair bands, hair bands, more hair bands, or country western.  In my neck of the woods, big ballads ruled the airwaves and new wave was looked down upon with radical distaste and unstopped disdain.

My pack of friends (shout out to those of you who read this), from three different schools, were...well...different.  We were punks, skaters, preppies, mods, and wavers in a sea of butt-rockers and hair.  It was easy to point us out and easy to identify us.  We were the pre-generation of, and evolved into, the Grunge movement of the 1990's that was so well accepted with its long hair and flannel.  We listened to bands like U2, The Police, Depeche Mode, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Big Audio Dynamite, The Cure, The Ramones, Social Distortion, The Violent Femmes, Jane's Addiction, and saw Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam before they ever played stadiums but could only be found on the local music circuit.  We identified with bands that are very mainstream today, but were misunderstood in the 1980's.   

This identification that my friends and I had with something "different" often lead to consistent trouble for us.  I distinctly remember a moment in high school when my younger brother was surrounded by a group of butt rockers (about 15 of them), dog piled, and duct taped upside down to a pole in the middle of the school.  At the time, the group felt justified in this action, because he was different than them.  His career path has been in law enforcement.  I'm sure this experience was a turning point.  It's interesting how most of our life experiences and differences lead us down pretty specific paths.  We were chased, egged, tripped, spit on, threatened, and asked to leave public places.  In spite of this, we were a proud group, proud of ourselves and proud for standing out in a crowd.

Maybe I'm an optimist at heart, but I believe that things, and people, change for the better (most times).  History shows that things that are "different" are often frowned upon at first, but often produce long-term acceptance or a positive impact on culture.  It's an interesting evolutionary cycle as you watch "different" become mainstream, acceptable, and eventually embraced...much like the music transition from punk, new-wave, and the hair bands of the 1980's, to the 1990's grunge movement.

When is "different" ok?  When is "different" encouraged?  When is "different" necessary for your survival?

For your business to have value it must provide something that is better, cheaper, faster, more technical, simpler, easier, innovative...something...different.  What makes you or your organization different...really different?  I liked a recent blog post by ActusMR titled "Stand Out".  It focused on the reasons that you want to stand out for sales purposes, but there's more to it than just sales...right?  Businesses exist to make money...to sell...we all know that.  It's the underlying approach to our economy.  But they also do something more.  They become a part of the culture, the social landscape.  They become part of who we are.  They support families, support individuals, alter the view, change communities, change countries, and in some instances change the world.  Different...can change a lot of things.

Here are some simple tips to identify how your business is really different.

• Survey or simply ask your employees, your team, your department, what makes your group different.  Do you believe what they say?
• Survey or simply ask your customers, your clients, your patients what makes your company different.  This is risky business, maybe they won't know.  Hopefully they do.  In either case you'll learn something.
• Conduct a litmus test.  Do the differences your staff identify align with the differences your clients identify?  How do these two things align with the goals of your organization, your mission statement?  If they don't align, work at bringing these two views together.
• When you speak to potential clients, are the characteristics you talk about unique to you, or are they industry rhetoric?  If you talk about quality, what do you do differently than your competitors to ensure that quality exists?  Rhetoric isn't the actual difference; it is an outcome.  The different steps you take to achieve the outcome are the real difference.

It's important that you know how you are different.  Now that you know how you are different, be prepared to talk about your differences and, more importantly, be prepared to show why they are a benefit to your customers, your clients, your patients, or your employees.  Your organizations success and survival, either now or in the future, will depend on your ability to characterize why you or your products and services are different and why "different" matters.

• Are the other steps you take to identify what makes you different?
• How do you get the word out on your differences?
• What makes you different?

Questions, Bands, Musicians and Market Research

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I love questions, especially the unique ones.  It's probably one of the reasons I enjoy market research so much.  When I was young and working myself through college and graduate school I worked a series of menial jobs that ranged from fast food worker, pizza delivery guy, big box store associate (that was quite the promotion from fast food worker), and wound up with a job chasing a developmentally disabled individual around a learning facility, primarily to "discourage" him from touching people.  My "college enlightened" brain was BORED.  To entertain myself, I'd ask questions that not only entertained me but made the folks I worked with think...and passed the time more quickly.  I loved to ask questions like: 

• If you HAD to live the life of a Brady Bunch character...who would it be?  Why?
• If you could only drive one TV car for the rest of your life, what car would it be?  Why?
• If you woke up in the morning morphed into a superhero, who would you want it to be?  Why?
• If you had to marry a cartoon character, who would it be (this was prior to "adult cartoons"...other than Heavy Metal or parts of The Wall.) And, Why?
• If you were going to work in a job, that wasn't "White Collar" and wasn't for the money, what would it be?  Why? 

I would entertain myself for hours thinking about and engaged in conversations surrounding topics like this...not exactly saving the world...but at least my brain wasn't turning to Lime Green Jello.

I was listening to some music this morning as I was going about my work.  I love placing my Ipod on shuffle and seeing what comes out.  Music has a fascinating way of putting you in a place, a time, an event, a frame of mind.  One song can flash you to different events in your life...and you're there...for better or for worse...only for a moment.  Music has meaning.  For instance, if you ever walk into my office and I'm listening to show tunes...bust your butt to get out of there as quickly as you can...Don't get me wrong, I like show tunes and it could be one of those really upbeat songs that may sound really happy...it's still not a good sign.

This morning, due to some music I was listening to, I started thinking about this time in my life.  The time when I had much less to do and much less responsibility...and I ran across one of THOSE questions...so I mandatarily asked my staff (no opt-in). 

• If (Insert Your Company Here) were a band, a musician, or a musical group, who would it be and why.  

If you've never asked a question like this of your staff, you should try it.  In fact, I'd encourage you to ask this specific question of your staff.  The answers are insightful.  Is your company like: 

• A Reggae Band - Doesn't get worked up over much, everything is always peaceful, and very little conflict exists?
• A Country Western Band - Down on your luck, always running into trouble...lost your wife, your horse, and your money.
• A Speed Metal Band - Loud, frantic, unorganized.
• A Lounge Singer - Solid for years, but struggling as the world outgrows you.
• A Classic Rock Band - The band that continues to evolve over time to meet the needs of the current listeners, but really has to work at it.
• An Alternative Band - New products, new ideas, new ways of delivering your message.
• A Pop Band - Smack in the center, not really trying to make any waves, but trying to continue as long as the song/group/market will hold out.
• A Hip-Hop Group - New and exciting, pushing the envelope, trying to make people think, maybe in it for the money...and the creativity...and the money.
• A Choir or Symphony - regimented but organized, inadequate as an individual, but brilliant when placed together. 

The list can go on and on...but every answer has an underlying meaning.  These types of organizational personality tests can say a lot without saying a lot.  In a non-confrontational way, you can better understand your staff, the macro view of your company, and the view of what you spend most of your time doing.  Take the following market research litmus test.  The results may surprise you. 

• Call your shot - If your company were a band, a musician, or a musical group, who would it be and why.  Give me your company, the musician or group, and why it describes you.  ENTER IT ON THIS BLOG...RECORD IT!
• Now ask - Ask this same question to those that report to you, your staff, your department, your company.  TELL THEM WHAT THEY SAID...THEY'LL ENJOY IT!
• Evaluate the results - Does it match?  Does the view of those in your organization align with what you've recorded here?  Is it better or worse?  Do you have work to do to improve your organization so that your view of the company matches the view of those that report to you (don't answer this question here).