If there’s one message I have stressed more than any other over the last few years, it is that it is not good enough to be pretty good at everything. The most successful companies, products, and brands have figured out how to become the most of something—not just adequate, but downright amazing.
If there’s one pushback I’ve received more than any other over the last few years, it is that I am setting an unreasonably high bar. “We’re not cutting-edge like Google or Facebook, our company is old-fashioned,” some executives reply. “This is not a glamorous business,” others protest, “don’t expect us to be like Apple or Nike.
To which I say, that’s a cop-out. I don’t care what field you’re in or what kind of company you work for. It is possible to transform anything you do from adequate to amazing—if you think hard enough about what amazing means in your field, and creatively enough about how to stand out from the crowd.
In my latest post for HBR, I offers some ideas about how to go from adequate to amazing.
