Why you should stop trying to be better

It’s a little bit like trying to be perfect. Trying to be better does not add value. 

But wait: doesn’t better mean an improvement? Wouldn’t that automatically add value? 

Yes and no. 

Better is comparative to a previous version or an outside influence. Value is, remains, will always be, about the client. 

Better and best

Here is something that has always confused me. 

A company will create a product. Then it will market and sell that product. And then, because it always wants to have something new to offer, it will create a new version of that product. And when it markets and sells this new version, it will call it “our best version ever”. 

And all I can think is the poor developers and marketers who worked on the previous version, now made obsolete and, frankly: wrong. Because they had not been able to create this better – best – version. Not to mention the client stuck with the worse version.

Or different?

When you find yourself trying to change for the better, stop and ask yourself who it is that is causing the change. 

• If it is for your clients, go back to value. What will make their life even better?
• If it is because of your competitors, turn your attention to being different. Don’t let the competition decide how you measure your success. 
• If it is because of external forces, then use your strengths and guiding principles to decide how to change. 
• And if it is because of your employees? Then we are right back with value. Find what will make your employees happy. 

All these things may turn out to be better, but let that be a happy consequence, not the unit of measurement. 

What next

Have you been spending your time trying to be better than the competition? Contact me for a fresh competitive analysis that will allow you to re-position yourself as different, and as unique in the marketplace.