I was recently introduced to a new concept in leadership. To be a better leader you need to focus on refining the things that you’re already good at, rather than worrying about the things that “need improvement.” I think the same is true for brands.
To explain, I was enlightened by the notion of “strengths-based” leadership. The concept goes like this: our weaknesses only have so much potential to be improved. On the other hand, our strengths have unlimited promise. Think about it. Let’s say you’re a talented writer (we have a few here at Anchor), but when it comes to singing, you fall short. You can take singing lessons, hire a vocal coach and practice for hours everyday, but you’ll more than likely only become slightly better at singing. Basically – you’ll never be great at it. Sounds a bit negative, I know, and it hurts me to say that because I’m an extremely positive person, but it’s true. It’s because the wall of potential to improve your singing is not very far from where you’re standing at the moment.
Now, if you were to put the same training and effort into improving your writing, it’s likely that you’d grow tremendously as a writer. That’s because the wall of potential when it comes to improving your writing is way across town, maybe even in another state. That’s how strengths and weaknesses work. If you’re not good at something, you’ll probably never be great at it. If you’re great at something, you have the potential to be amazing at it.
How does all of this relate to your brand? Whereas it’s good to consider all of the possible ways to diversify your brand (maybe introducing new products or services, finding new uses for existing products, etc.), you should never turn your back on what you do best. Ultimately, focusing on what you do best puts your energy where you have the most room to grow.
Here at Anchor, one of our strengths is helping our client’s to identify what they do best, and it’s something that we do better and better every day. Give us a call and we’ll show you how.