It s a shame I've been sitting on this book for about two years now. A friend of mine gave me Never Eat Alone , by Keith Ferrazzi a couple years ago (thanks Rey), and it s been on my bookcase ever since. It was resting there not because I didn't want to read it, but because I already had so many others in the pipeline. I finally got around to reading it last month and I definitely recommend it. In very simple terms, Ferrazzi explains why networking is important and how to do it. From how to make call lists to planning dinners to personal branding to goal setting, it s all here. He also maintains a valuable blog .
Inevitably there will be times when you have setbacks or things don t go your way. Maybe you didn't get a job you thought you were sure to get. Maybe you lost a job unexpectedly, didn't win a contract, or lost a major client. Your car always seems to break down right after you've had some other unexpected expense. These kinds of situations immediately place us in crisis. They don t feel good, but sometimes they re what we need in order to grow. The beautiful thing about crises is that they force us to take a step back and reevaluate what s going on in our lives and rediscover what we truly want and need. When we get over that initial shock and feeling of disappointment, we might realize that maybe that job wasn't really the best for us anyway. Maybe, just maybe, that wasn't what you really wanted to spend your life doing. Maybe that friend was holding you back instead of pushing you forward. The way I deal with crises of these sorts is simple: If something doesn't go my way professionally, I try to create a situation that would be more rewarding than the situation originally planned. A while ago, I was offered a job that looked very promising. After I accepted the offer, they pushed the start date back three times, later informing me (via e-mail) that they wanted to bring me on in the near future but I should feel free to explore other options. I was extremely disappointed. I felt disrespected and angry, but decided to make the best of the situation and follow my dream of working internationally. I then flew to Santiago, Chile and had great professional and personal experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise. Later, reflecting back on the original opportunity, I realized that working for a company that avoids a start date three times and then can t pick up the phone to explain the situation is probably not where I need to spend my time. Use setbacks as an opportunity to put your goals in order and act on them. In the moment, it s difficult to look at a setback as temporary, but they are. They happen to everybody. It s how you respond to them that will determine how they affect you.
Just because a company has occupied an industry longer than their competitors doesn’t necessarily mean they have a competitive advantage over their competition. Executives and marketing professionals often tout the length of time a company has been in existence as a crucial differentiating factor. The message they are trying to convey is that the time they have occupied in the market has led to them gain an edge over their competitors because they have had the time to gain valuable experience. This is great in theory, but doesn’t always play out so well in reality.
The problem with claiming experience as a differentiating factor is that, put simply, experience is often simply not a differentiating factor. Not all experience is created equal. In fact, a company that enters a market first often assumes extra risk because they have to pioneer that market. What they have to painstakingly learn is often taken for granted by companies that follow, especially when the experience is not proprietary and protected through patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc. Companies that follow have an advantage because they can capitalize on the experience of others and start with newer technologies and schools of thought, which often come more cheaply than the initial round of information, manufacturing plants, software, and other technologies did.
The Android smartphone operating system is a perfect example of how a competitor can enter a market late and become a market leader. Google entered the smartphone OS market much later than competing firms Research In Motion (Blackberry) and Apple. In a landscape where people clamor over features, Google used consumer research data and piggybacked off of the experiences of their competitors to provide an offering to which consumers have quickly responded. As a result, Google’s Android OS is now the leading smartphone OS in the nation. Apple’s iPod all but killed the Sony Walkman, Facebook has passed MySpace to become the largest social networking site, and Twitter has become a social phenomenon. All have done so in a relatively short time. Don’t rest on your laurels. There is always somebody vying for your spot. Complacency has been the downfall of many.
We all have our various backgrounds and sets of values that set us apart from other people. That’s cool. What’s not cool is refusing to change when you realize that what you’re doing is harmful to other people. At a certain point, we have to realize that we exist in a larger ecosystem and take responsibility for our actions. If there’s a problem with the environment, take the opportunity to help change that environment. Step outside of your comfort zone and strive to reach a higher level of understanding.