Competitive Advantage 2.0
The term “competitive advantage” has traditionally been associated with the world of business, but this is no longer the case. Competitive Advantage 2.0 is all about the individual human being in the new economy. Information technology, the internet, and globalization have increased the level of competitiveness dramatically in all areas of life. But at the same time, these forces have empowered those of us who understand how to leverage who we are as unique individuals in this environment.
In general, the term “Web2.0” usually refers to a social network or community. But it is really about the empowerment of the individual and what value he or she can add, or receive from, a community or niche. Web2.0 is just one aspect or effect of the powerful broader trends that are present in our world.
The dramatic changes that have been taking place in the world over the last 20 to 30 years demand that you, as an individual human being, learn to bring out the best in yourself. By doing this, you add value not just to yourself, but also to a community, a marketplace, and the world in general.
Although it is obvious to most people that the world has been experiencing tremendous change, few understand the implications of this change. When we step back and view the socioeconomic trends from a broader context, it becomes evident that the traditional means of becoming successful are no longer sufficient.
Knowledge, determination, and positive thinking are no longer the main determinants of success. They have become mere entry level requirements – still very necessary but now just an entry fee to play the game of life, a mere common denominator among the majority of the world’s population. And this has caused a lot of frustration for people in our world.
The bar is continually being raised everywhere. Information technologies and globalization will continually to dramatically impact our lives, and the world will continue to become more competitive. But, like a frog in a slowly heating pot of water that will eventually boil, at the individual level many people do not realize the significance of the broader trends.
Yet there is tremendous opportunity available to those of us who understand the trends and know how to utilize them. By aligning our strategies for success with the broader trends and utilizing our individuality, we can prosper. To benefit from these trends we must bring the concept of competitive advantage down to a personal level.
Many interpret the competitive forces at work in today’s world as being negative in nature, and having negative consequences. I hold the opposite view.
Increasing competitive forces at the level of the individual human should be seen as positive and embraced. The forces at work in today’s world are demanding that we explore and apply our “individual culture” in a way that creates a “Competitive Advantage 2.0” that adds value to the world and earns the attention of consumers in the Web2.0 world.
The potential end result of this is, I believe, a happier, more positive, and more peaceful world. But to reap the benefits from the ever increasing levels of competition in our world it is required that we learn to leverage who we are as unique individuals to whatever in life we are passionate about. This is what the people that our society considers to be successful have done. This is particularly important for Internet entrepreneurs to understand because we add new value to the marketplace through innovation and creativity. –Darryl Dosti
How To Be Better Than Everyone Else
For a long time I felt there was something wrong with me. I could not figure out why I was not achieving my goals. It was not for lack of determination or knowledge, I had a lot of both, but so does everyone else. I started to feel as if success just wasn’t meant for me.
But then I noticed something.
I noticed that the people who had achieved a good deal of success had a certain quality about them, something I call “Personal Competitive Advantage™.”
They had figured out something obvious that most people overlook. Most people overlook this because:
- They are looking in the wrong place
- They don’t have a method for utilizing the resources at their disposal
That is why I wrote my book “Competitive Advantage 2.0.” (due out at the end of January 2008)
But please don’t be misled by the title of this post. Creating a Personal Competitive Advantage is about leveraging who you are as an individual to create value for yourself and the world and in the process becoming happier and making the world a better place.
It’s about understanding your “Individual Culture” (see previous post) and creating a new Mental Framework that guides your decision-making and actions in an optimal way.
As I have stated before, the bar is being raised everywhere, in every way. The effects of information technology, the internet and globalization have left no field untouched. Understanding how to develop and sustain competitive advantage is as important as ever, and will only increase in importance in the future.
Knowledge, determination, and positive thinking are no longer the main determinants of success. They have become entry level requirements - still very necessary but now just an entry fee to play the game of life, a mere common denominator among the majority of the world’s population.
On an individual level, creating a Personal Competitive Advantage can mean the difference between success and failure, frustration and happiness, and adding value or being worthless.
Start thinking about how you can apply your uniqueness to whatever field, career, skill or whatever else it is that you are passionate about. When you do this and then apply the proper methodology to create a new Mental Framework™, you will be creating your own Personal Competitive Advantage. –Darryl Dosti
Discovering your “Individual Culture”
Positive thinking and determination are no longer any guarantee of success. They are now merely entry fees to play the game of life.
For you, the individual human being, success now requires that you find a way to leverage what I call your “individual culture.”
For an individual person, the integration of their personality, unique individual traits & characteristics (idiosyncrasies), values, likes, dislikes, passions, talents, knowledge, etc, and anything else that makes them unique constitutes their “individual culture”.
Leveraging your individual culture:
I was watching videos of Jimi Hendrix on youtube the other day. You can’t help but marvel at how unique and advanced his skills were. He added a tremendous amount of innovation and value to the world by applying his unique talents to a set of competencies in the context of “guitar playing.”
One cannot deny that Jimi Hendrix had fully leveraged his individual culture when he picked up a guitar. By applying his individual culture to the competencies and skills within the context of guitar playing, he created a unique competitive advantage, and added an incredible amount of value to our culture and society. 
Understanding your individual culture is an important part of life in general.
The ramifications of not understanding your individual culture are many, but in general, not understanding who you are as a person means that you will not be able to develop a competitive advantage for anything in life, and this can dramatically limit your success and happiness, or at a minimum make it relatively more difficult to achieve your goals. In my book, Personal Competitive Advantage™, I explain a method you can apply to your own life that allows you to leverage your individual culture into a sustainable competitive advantage. –Darryl Dosti
Breaking out of a mental prison
There was a time in my life when I felt trapped in a “mental prison” of my own making.
Do you feel, as I once did, that your mental processes are “narrow minded” and dogmatic? If so, you may be trapped in an inefficent mental prison. If you are trapped in a mental prison, you will feel it internally. Your gut, or intuition, will be silently telling you so.
The common symptoms of being trapped in a mental prison are constant frustration, a lack of enthusiasm, boredom, little or no creative thinking, and a lack of progress towards your goals.
The dangers of a poor “mental framework“™:
There is nothing that can limit your success in life more than being narrow minded. When you are narrow minded, you are operating your life from a very inefficient “mental framework.” You fail to see opportunities to apply your individual uniqueness to the objective world.
In effect, when you are stuck in this inefficient state you have no “personal competitive advantage™” whatsoever. The decisions that you make internally and the actions that you take in the objective world come from a weak and inefficient mental framework. A mental prison causes “victim” thinking and a reactive (instead of proactive) attitude towards life in general.
Breaking out of the mental prison:
You can, and should, take responsibility for creating your own success. How does one create success in such a competitive world? You create what I call “personal competitive advantage.” Personal competitive advantage arises out of the creation of an improved mental framework.
Installing a new mental framework:
In the movie The Matrix, Neo developed a competitive advantage once he understood how to leverage the resources at his disposal. Just as the players in the Matrix installed new mental frameworks with instructions on how to excel, you too can install a new mental framework that utilizes your uniqueness and the body of knowledge within a particular context.
Determination and persistence are no longer enough to succeed in our competitive world, they are now just an entry fee to get into the game. To succeed, you need a personal competitive advantage over the competition. -Darryl Dosti
Bruce Lee had it, Tiger Woods has it, and so do the best Pick Up Artists…
Bruce Lee had it, Tiger Woods has it, and so do the best Pick Up Artists. So do successful entrepreneurs as well as the greatest leaders throughout the history of civilization. Any business that has been successful over time has it as well, just in a different way.
I am talking about sustainable competitive advantage.
Just as a successful business has a sustainable competitive advantage, every successful person has developed a personal competitive advantage. Anyone who has achieved a high level of consistent success has figured out how to apply their individual uniqueness to some field or skill. They have not just gotten down the learning curve, they have figured out a way to shift it in their favor.
The bar is being raised everywhere. Persistence, determination, and knowledge are no longer enough, they are now minimum requirements. In our hyper-competitive global economy we need to apply our unique individual qualities to find ways to add value to the marketplace.
When we have an actual method that allows us to apply our individual uniqueness to a set of skills we can effectively align who we are as individuals with the competencies that are necessary to succeed. We “individualize” the skills. Our actions then become optimized and second nature in feeling. We create uniqueness in action and a competitive edge.
If you are frustrated that you are not achieving your goals you have probably not developed a personal competitive advantage. But how do we develop this? Can a new “mental framework”™ be installed in our minds? In my book “Personal Competitive Advantage™” due out later this month I discuss just such a method. -Darryl Dosti