Quick Thoughts on Differentiation

“How are you different?” – an important question that your prospective customer will first ask. Your prospective employer too. Your boss will. So will your team members.

Here are some quick thoughts on differentiation, as I thought about it during my recent visit to Helsinki, Finland (some pictures above).

It is obvious enough to understand that one has to build differentiation in all that one does. Difficult enough to actually do that. It is not just one action, but a series of actions consistently performed over a long haul.

There are no short-cuts in building differentiation. Differentiation starts from thinking and then gets into becoming a process. Differentiation is strategic in nature.

Differentiation is about bringing your DNA to the work. You are uniquely gifted with things only you can do. Key is to realize a few such skills which, when combined together offers a unique value. Key question then is: “What do you stand for?”

Differentiation is not just about talking smart and convincing people that you are different. If it takes long speech to prove that you are different, you are probably not. Differentiation should be felt, should be evident in the way you approach a customer and do things. Differentiation is what the other person defines. You think you are different. Key question is: “Does the other person/client/prospect also think you are different?”

Some ways to build differentiation: Focus on unique area of work and be the best there or do the routine work very differently or have world-class processes/methodologies to deliver excellence or have world class people or have fantastic set of tools that enable you to be different or constantly innovate new ways of work to push the envelope. (You can also replace ‘or’ with ‘and’ to create even more powerful differentiation!)

People who focus on being different get noticed. They grow faster and create new opportunities for themselves. Same applies to organizations.

Tom Peters said this many years back. I have also mentioned this on my blog once before. But it still needs to be told, because it is a timeless piece of advice. “DISTINCT or EXTINCT”. Seth Godin calls them “Linchpins” – people who you cannot do without. People who change things for better. People who are different. People who bring their art to work. (Bonus: Read this fantastic post from Seth on being different.)

If you are not on your way to be DISTINCT, you are on the way of becoming “EXTINCT”. It is easy to fit in, difficult to stand out!

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P.S.: You can also revisit my earlier post where I referred to an excellent list of 25 things to be different” created by my favorite NICHOLAS BATE.

Last week, I was also honored by inclusion of my post “Quick Thought on Leadership and sub-ordination to a Cause” in March 7 Leadership Development Carnival – Academy Awards Edition. My post won ‘Best Supporting Actor’ Award! 🙂