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Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
-- St Francis of Assisi
 

 

Friday, January 26, 1996

Being unique

In today’s world, the old rules no longer apply. Businesses that have prospered for years are dropping like flies. There is an upheaval in business, a revolution going on in the marketplace. All the old business models are being thrown out the window.

Innovation is occuring so fast that it can hardly keep up with itself. The computer you buy today is an antique in less than six months. The knowledge you have spent years accumulating is no longer applicable.

The only thing you can count on is change. Things are going to change, and continue changing rapidly. How do you cope with that? How do you prepare yourself for that? How do you live and prosper in such a world?

It used to be, that to get along, you had to make yourself fit in. Go to the right schools, earn the right degrees, appreciate the right music, join the right country club, belong to the right church, and associate with the right people. That was a formula for success. And it worked very well. There was a “success track” that you could get on, and if you stayed on it, you had it made. NO MORE! That world is gone.

Fitting in no longer matters. Yes, you need contacts and you still need to do networking, but you can no longer get by just by fitting in. For one thing, there’s no place to fit in to anyway. Things are so chaotic that fitting in is just not an available option.

You must be unique. You must have something of value to offer the marketplace. With instant global communication, people in the marketplace can easily seek out the best and the brightest. Do you as a consumer demand anything less than the best? Of course not.

The nature of the marketplace is changing dramatically. If you don’t have something unique to offer, you’re out of business. You must have a way to distinguish yourself. Being unique is no longer an oddity. It is essential to success.

— Ralph Marston

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Copyright ©1996 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.