To stay relevant in a competitive world, we must act as though today’s advantage will be gone tomorrow.
Everybody wants to be the player that has it all figured out, the one that stays competitive in changing times, the one that stays ahead of the game and redefines the game for everyone else.
These players are rare!
One of the reasons they disappear is because they forget a fundamental rule of change: whatever advantage they had in the past is irrelevant in the future. All competitive advantage is temporary!
Competitive advantage comes in many forms, but it isn’t all about execution either. When competitors can easily execute the same things you do it becomes a race of who can execute better. It’s very predictable and most businesses operate with this mindset!
NO COMPANY finds competitive advantage by doing the same things their competitors do. For true competitive advantage, your strategy has to be hard to replicate. If it’s easy your competitors will do it.
The challenge is to anticipate what’s next and look for those openings that can give you another source of advantage, and then focus on continuously generating new sources of advantage. Don’t protect what you have, look for and adapt to the next big thing.
To find a new competitive advantage you need to constantly ask yourself:
- Where will the next sources of advantage come from?
- What is emerging and what opportunities open up?
- What new capabilities do I need to develop now?
- How can we stay ahead of the game?
Key takeaway: We must remember that the future is different than the present and if we wish to stay relevant, finding new ways to compete A Good Time for a Dime rip is the challenge we must meet for constant renewal