My Unfair Advantage in Business
You don’t need to know me very well to know that I’m a massive believer in the philosophy that culture eats strategy for breakfast.
Being in the recruitment industry meant that I met a lot of people, and when I say a lot I’m not joking. While I don’t have an exact figure, it would be well into the tens of thousands.
Whilst I made my living from finding the best person for the job, I was able to apply everything I learnt on my own business, all the while passionately serving my clients.
James Collins is famous for saying ‘get the right people on the bus’ and this is what we did, for both our clients and our own business. Hiring like-minded people is how we ensured we were able to grow and maintain the culture that we had created and lived by.
People would often stop me and ask about the staff - ‘who trained them’? My answer was simple... ‘their mothers!’
When it comes to hiring people make sure you hire on attitude and aptitude, skills can be taught (after all - they are learnt by definition) but the person who they are can’t be changed.
People will be your biggest asset in business so make sure you do everything in your power to ensure that you create a thriving culture, it is the hardest thing to compete against.
Chris Sacca, billionaire tech investor who appeared on the US edition of the television show Shark Tank, says he looks for businesses that have an unfair advantage to invest in. His definition of an unfair advantage is a competitive edge that your competition at best will find it extremely difficult to compete with you on.
What is your unfair advantage in your business?
Founder & MD ExecCo.Search Advisory & Hire.land People Solutions Founder - CV-ME.COM.AU Board Member at Tutch
6 年Love it!? Agree wholeheartedly.? As one of "your" people I not only loved the culture you created but felt completely empowered by the leaders who provided clarity and accountability.?
Avoca Cottages
6 年Totally agree, my team are my greatest asset and thats why I started my business, not only to be a successful business but to be the employer of choice. Great teams make the ride so much easier and enjoyable?
CEO/Non-Executive Director /ASX and Private Equity/Strategy, growth and business transformation /Retail, FMCG and B2B
6 年Andrew I agree completely
Advisor-mentor-consultant to c-suite & board members of multi-national & national, large & small, corporations & organisations. Speaker & trainer sharing secrets of scientific corporate governance, strategy & planning.
6 年One of my biggest concerns in business is negativity towards academic models. The "Unfair Advantage" described is actually a diluted version of the academic understanding of "Sustainable Competitive Advantage" that has been around for decades. When I was the blue-eyed boy of M&B's contracting division, and all those testimonials came in praising me as a guru and brilliant marketing strategist, it was only because I respected and applied academic models to the business problems I was asked to solve. In terms of culture, perhaps the lesson can be learned that a positive culture towards the science of Marketing might be wiser than many entrepreneurs give credit?