Leadership Lesson from "Black Bags"

Last week I had a great visit traveling and meeting our vendors Open Tech (call center) and Veritech (revenue management). Great partners that are looking to help add revenue to the bottom line for Devon Self Storage.

On my way back as I landed in DFW and everyone was grabbing their luggage…a question filled my mind. I wondered, as I saw people struggle to find their black carry-on bag in a plane filled with black carry-on bags, why so many travelers buy a black bag. After all, they have a choice. Go to any luggage store and you'll see green bags, red bags, yellow bags, blue bags and even pink bags and yet most choose black. They have an opportunity to buy a color that stands out and yet they don't. They conform. So when it comes time to finding their bag it’s not easy to distinguish their bag from others.

It’s the same way in business and life. We have a choice. We can stand out in traffic or we can choose to conform and be like everyone else. If you don't stand out and simply conform, when customers are given a choice they won't be able to differentiate you from the competition. You’ll be like a black bag in a pile of black bags.

People and organizations and brands that stand out in traffic are the ones that thrive. They are easy to find and everyone knows there’s something different about them.

How do you apply this:

• Can the same be said for you? Do you stand out at work?
• Do you stand out to your customers?
• Do you stand out to your team?

Regards,

Raheem Amer