How to stop living a mediocre life
Are you determined to succeed? So what, everyone else is too….
So what separates the winners from the losers in life? Of course, determination and persistence play a role, but everyone else also has those qualities. They are a given, like showing up to the Olympics in great physical shape. In other words they are a minimum requirement. If you have determination and persistence then you have brought yourself up to the same level as everyone else.
Have you have read all the self-help stuff, gone to the seminars, set your goals and work toward them every day yet you still wind up frustrated year after year, spinning your wheels? It is because you do not know what separates the winners from the mediocre in life…. The winners know how to apply their unique individual characteristics in a way that gives them an edge at whatever they do. In short, what separates the winners from the losers is “personal competitive advantage.”
You have a personal competitive advantage at something when you have found a way to apply who you are as an individual to whatever it is you are doing. You in effect “individualize” the skills you are focused on. No matter what your field, career, or goals, in order to develop a competitive advantage you must not only adapt to the context, but adapt the context to who you are as an individual. All successful people have done this.
We are all different for a reason. On this New Years Eve, make a vow to stop being mediocre. Embrace, apply, and utilize who you are as an individual. Be happy that you are unique and learn to apply and adapt your uniqueness to create a personal competitive advantage. -Darryl Dosti
How the Hard Rock Hotel raised the bar back in 1995
In 1995, the Hard Rock Hotel opened its doors in Las Vegas, and I was fortunate enough to be a part of its opening staff. Hard Rock Hotel owner & developer, Peter Morton, saw an opportunity to create a competitive advantage over other Las Vegas casinos. He would do this by creating as part of the plan an organizational culture that would, at least for the first couple of years, provide its guests with a new level of customer service. Young & attractive employees with personality were hired, even if they had no work experience. Employees were hired based on personality, attitude, ability to learn, and of course, appearance. It did not take long for the Hard Rock to gain the reputation of having the best service and most personable and attractive staff of any hotel/casino in Las Vegas.
When a player walked up to a table game in the casino they did not see a quiet dealer with his arms folded who didn’t want to be bothered. What they got was a smile and a “welcome to the Hard Rock” greeting. If a customer had a problem, front line staff met them head on with an attitude of empathy to help them solve the issue. The design of the building, the organizational culture and employee values oozed into the atmosphere of the place, and it quickly became the coolest place to be. That atmosphere was why people chose the Hard Rock, and organizational culture is what drove the feeling in the atmosphere of the hotel.
But Hard Rock’s competitive advantage was not to be sustained. Turnover in management and the front line staff combined with a lack of focus caused the culture and competitive advantage to suffer. New staff was not trained on the importance of sustaining the competitive advantage. Over time, the vision was lost. It was not long before it turned into just another casino. The Hard Rock Hotel became a shadow of its former self, and in the process lost a lot of its business glory to its competitors. To learn exactly how to create your own sustainable competitive advantage stay tuned for my new book “Personal Competitive Advantage™” due out at the end of January.-Darryl Dosti
How to develop a competitive advantage in the Web2.0 world
In a previous post I wrote “The internet is the greatest forum for critical discussion in the history of civilization. It has unleashed the marketplace of ideas….” To be successful we need to understand how, as individuals, we can bring value to people and communities on the web.
If you (or your business) can consistently add value to peoples’ lives and you have something to say that improves the lives of others you can quickly develop a sustainable competitive advantage. Gary Vaynerchuk has done just that with his efforts at Winelibrary. He has embraced his individual idiosyncrasies and developed his enthusiasm, personality, knowledge, and background into what is called a “Personal Competitive Advantage™.”
One of the ways he applies his proprietary competitive advantage is by helping his audience make better decisions through a wonderful video blog located at http://tv.winelibrary.com. He puts out content that utilizes the Personal Competitive Advantage that he as an individual. It is efforts such as this that are providing his company with a sustainable competitive advantage in the Web 2.0 world.
How can we come to understand what value we can add? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a method that enabled you to create your own proprietary competitive advantage and in turn leverage that into a sustainable competitive advantage? What if you had a method that helped you to leverage who you are as an individual person in the field that you are passionate about… a method that did not require expensive psychological testing that you could use for the rest of your life to continually improve and achieve your goals. I will be explaining just such a methodology in my book “Competitive Advantage 2.0” (to be released in late January, 2008), as well as on this blog in future posts. –Darryl Dosti
Why Goldman Sachs Outperforms the Competition
Most of its competitors are struggling and reporting large losses, but Goldman Sachs is having a record year and reported a 33% return on equity. Was it luck? No, luck is a short term phenomenon…. Goldman consistently outperforms its competition, regardless of market conditions.
In general, a business is said to have a competitive advantage if it consistently earns higher than average profits in its industry. But what enables a firm to sustain a competitive advantage over a long period of time? In economics, we learn that, in the long run, all inputs are variable. Given a long enough time frame, a firm can hire any employees it would like, organize its processes however it prefers, and enter or exit any market. Thus, sustaining a competitive advantage over a long period of time is a formidable task. Over the long term, just about any competitive advantage, even ones that are legally based or based on the structure of the market, will eventually be eroded by competitors in search of profit.
The competitive advantage of Goldman Sachs
There is however, one competitive advantage that cannot be duplicated, even over the long term. That is the sustainable competitive advantage that arises out of organizational culture. Organizational culture is the personality of the firm. It is unique and arises out of the interaction of the individuals interacting within the processes of the firm, all in light of its leadership. This chemistry influences how individuals act and make decisions. It must, however, be maintained, and that takes effort…. Goldman Sachs, like other firms and individuals that are consistently at the top of their respective field have a clear understanding of the importance of organizational culture and how to leverage it into competitive advantage. –Darryl Dosti
A competitive advantage in fundraising
The internet is the greatest forum for critical discussion in the history of civilization– it has unleashed the marketplace of ideas…. This is important to understand, because, as Hans-Hermann Hoppe wrote: “ultimately, the course of history is determined by ideas.” One of the effects of the internet is that ideas or theories that have a high degree of truth can now get recognized more easily. Thus, inferior theories and ideas get refuted in the marketplace of ideas. Is there alot of BS on the internet? of course there is, but the amount of critical discussion that is taking place on the net is fantastic, so the BS gets weeded through with a good degree of efficiency.
Dr. Ron Paul, presidential candidate and congressman, has developed a nice competitive advantage over his competitors in the area of fundraising. How did this develop? well, for one, the message of liberty resonates with the majority of Americans but this is the competitive advantage at the surface level. It is a result of a deeper advantage that no other politician, at least that I am aware of, can claim. At a deeper level, his competitive advantage is his character, background and all the things that make him unique. John Stewart described him as having “consistent, principled, integrity.” This is certainly a unique competitive advantage for a politician. (For the sake of disclosure, I have not (at least not yet) donated to Dr. Paul or any other US politician).
A competitive advantage whose time has come…
Only he, with his unique combination of integrity, knowledge of politics, history and economics could leverage this competitive advantage they way that he has. Love him or hate him, Dr. Paul has done what no other politician is able, or will be able, to do–generate record amounts of donations. And it is because he has a competitive advantage over the competition. Is this competitive advantage a sustainable one? Yes. Not only is it sustainable but it is growing in strength. Yes, it is the message behind him but only he could deliver that message. Only someone with his character, background and individual idiosyncrasies could deliver this message they way that he has. Other Republicans are now stumbling all over themselves trying to steal Dr. Paul’s “frame,” but they will not work for them, they are out of alignment with that message. Only time will tell if this competitive advantage in fundraising can translate into a competitive advantage in votes. –Darryl Dosti