Marketing is not designed to cover up problems inherent in a business. As a marketer, I am often asked how to make a product or service sound better than it is so people will buy it. Why should I make something sound better than it is? People hate to be deceived. The first thing I ask is what can be done to make the product be better, not sound better. Today, people have options. If you don't want to run Windows, get a Mac. If you don't like the new "Apple", use a distribution of linux. If you don't provide the product or service the end user wants, somebody else will. In cases you have a product that somebody needs, but they either don't want it or understand why it's important (e.g. life insurance) the first thing that you need to do is build a superior product and then educate your target market on the benefits of the service.
A weak product is the worst marketing and PR you can have, well, next to horrible customer service. Whether your product is, focus on making the best quality product possible with the end user in mind. Word of mouth advertising is much more effective than anything you can pay for. Once you have a product that you full ystand behind, ask me how we can work to get the word out.
Sometimes, the true mark of a leader is knowing when to follow. We are taught from early on that leadership is to be valued and followership dismissed. We vote student body officers and make heroes out of historical figures based on their courageous acts, intuition, dedication and, you guessed it, leadership. While these characteristics are to be acknowledged - even celebrated, knowing how to let somebody take the lead when they are better suited is a sign of true leadership capabilities.
Letting go of control is always difficult, yet many times, is the right thing to do. Many companies have become irrelevant and fallen because the CEO doesn’t know when it’s time to hand responsibilities over to somebody who is more in tune with the current climate. Generals have lost battles because they commanded when they shouldn’t have. It can be difficult to think beyond yourself. Leading in a situation for which you are not qualified only exposes the fallacies that are inherent in every human being. Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses. True leaders know this and embrace it. When it is their time to lead, they lead. When it’s not, they select the best people for the job.
Stepping aside, whether temporary or permanent, doesn’t make you irrelevant. It makes you responsible for allowing the best course of action to take place. It makes you a hero.
Are you being the best leader you can be?
Since when is mediocrity the new gold standard? All-too-often I hear people start their sentences with, “Well, at least…(insert consolation prize here).” It seems that we have collectively lost our competitive spirit – the desire to be the best. When did we decide to give up? When did we decide that it’s okay to just be good enough? When did we decide to settle? Personally, I believe complacency is the number one killer of dreams. The greats are great because they found their passion and worked hard to perfect their crafts. Try finding a great author who is not an avid reader, a musician who doesn’t love and collect music, a strong CEO who doesn’t keep up with current trends, or a top athlete who doesn’t train. When I see a person miserable on the job or a child fighting for the chance to read, go to school or have clean drinking water, I’m reminded just how important it is to never settle. If you try your best, then the best is all you can do. However, if you say you tried your best to cover up a lack of effort, that's the mentality we need to change. Always strive for better.
How to be the best:
- Be a student of your craft. Read anything and everything you can. Study anything in your field and anything that may have an effect on it. Be well-rounded. Check out blogs, podcasts, YouTube, wherever you can get information, get it. Oh yeah, and don’t forget about PEOPLE. Have a conversation and learn something.
- If you’re good, spend time with somebody better, faster, stronger, etc.
- Take the next challenge. When you’ve mastered a certain level, step up. Rise to the occasion.
- Recruit a mentor. If you find an expert in the field, reach out to them and develop your skills.
- Never be too pleased with yourself. If you do something great, good. Now, do better.
- Practice, practice, practice.
- Never settle.
What do you think? Why is mediocrity praised? Where have we gone wrong? What are we doing right? What suggestions do you have to be the best?
This is a repost of an article I wrote for Red, Brown and Blue.
When a colleague recently asked me, as an African American male, what I thought about Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s dream, I told him I couldn’t answer that question without an essay of a response. The significance of that dream is so tremendous, and the effects so wide-ranging, I honestly don’t think it would be fair to respond, “Oh, it’s important.” An answer like that would fail to capture the magnitude of that dream, and how I feel it has affected my life and the lives of so many others. So, with that said, consider this my answer…
What do I think of King’s dream? One thing is for certain: I think it is very worthy of celebration. His dedication to civil rights, his charismatic leadership, and unwavering energy helped ignite one of the largest social movements in human history. However that dream was not his alone, but rather the culmination of many like-minded individuals who wanted to move towards a world free of racial oppression. Dr. King was not the first person to have a dream of Black kids and White kids playing in the same playgrounds together – learning in the same class rooms together – experiencing life together. No, there were many people who shared in that dream a sense of hope and the idea that we had transcended the ideology that race was the determinant factor of social mobility, academic attainment, and intellectual ability. In that dream, there was a message that we were ready to step forward – together. That dream was then, and remains today, an inspiration for us to reach our potential as a collective group of people.
With any powerful message there needs to be a powerful messenger. Without a capable person to transmit the message, much of its significance is lost. In this case, King was definitely a worthy and ideal candidate for this challenge. The dream may have not been his alone, but he had the rare ability to deliver an extremely well articulated vision of the future and a thorough knowledge of the trends that would later set the stage for a critical social movement to take place. Rosa Parks was not the first person that refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus. No, that distinction belongs to Irene Morgan. Why then do we tend to give Rosa Parks credit for igniting the Montgomery Boycott?
Ms. Morgan, albeit a courageous and strong woman, was not the proper image for the movement. At the time she refused her seat she was an unmarried mother of two children, resisted with physical force, and did not have most pristine reputation among the people in her community. Ms. Parks, on the other hand, was older, more respected, and the secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. Also, Parks’ resistance was orchestrated as part of a tactical strategy. Given the sensitive state of affairs regarding civil issues and the legal strategy the NAACP was employing to resist oppression, they couldn’t afford to feed the media with any more fodder to battle the movement than already existed. Although Irene Morgan won a court case with her defiance, the NAACP chose Parks because opponents would be less able to undermine the movement based on character flaws.
It is my opinion, however, that, in addition to honoring King’s legacy and the dream of the Civil Rights movement, we need to continue pressing forward by forging our own dreams. I think that if he could, Dr. King would encourage us to keep dreaming, adapting them for the challenges that are relevant to the present conditions. Many of the dreams of his time have yet to come to fruition, but great progress has been made in several areas. The problem, I feel, is that the dream and its effects were so monumental, that we have lost some of our own desire and willingness to develop our own dreams. King’s dream was a dream for the ages; one that encompassed the struggle that transcended race, ethnicity, age and other differences to be embraced by so many.
So, what do I think about King’s dream? I think that dream was important then, and remains important today. I think he was definitely the right person to deliver the message. However, I don’t think it exempts us from having our own dreams. In the wake of issues such as diminishing energy reserves to support global demands and a flawed education system that is not preparing our children for the future of highly skilled labor demands, along with acknowledging the old issues such as immigration and terrorism, I think we have plenty to dream about. Martin Luther King, Junior had a great dream, one that has stood the test of time, but I too have a dream. Do you?
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michael Maine.
Michael Maine is dedicated to global communication, collaboration, and cooperation. Originally planning on utilizing his problem solving and strategic strengths in the corporate sector, his eyes were opened and life changed after taking his first Sociology class at Southwestern University, where he graduated with a bachelor in Business and minors in both Sociology and Communications.
So, what do you think? What other issues are we facing today? How far have we come? What solutions do you suggest?