There is No Comfort, Only Opportunity.

One thing I had been wanting to write about is the idea of risk taking in the business world. Brains on Fire had two great posts on it recently, namely this one and this one. Honestly, I couldn’t agree more. Business isn’t about being comfortable in your decision, it’s about being a risk taker. It’s about breaking new ground. Likewise it’s not about being all things to all people. It’s about addressing the specific community that hasn’t been tailored to. When I’m actively in my profession and doing marketing, I would rather go to bed concerned but excited about the potential success of our latest risk than go to bed comfortably, knowing I don’t need to worry about anything because I didn’t bother risking anything.

Would anyone like to be known as the guy that was great at being mediocre? That was great at doing nothing? Or would you rather be known as the guy who put all his passion into everything and took the risk? The guy that made a difference in your company and your community. The ironic thing is even doing what is comfortable is risky. In fact, in the long term it could be more risky. So when a business can’t do anything that isn’t risky, why not go for the opportunity?

 

For those who have time, I have an aside in what’s taught in the curriculum here that links in with the above in concerning taking an innovative risk or being a comfortable me-to. While I can’t say that I have any real evidence for it, I have always considered “Me-To” products to be a failure. That is to say, if I wanted to build a successful company that has the most significant market share in a given market, I would never consider me-to products, and would always consider innovation. This is nothing new, as Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow” concept of giving people something to talk about addresses it, and I’ve seen others touch on it. However, as I’ve stated previously education seems to be teaching us students to do me-to products, mainly because it’s safe. Just yesterday this was being reinforced in my marketing class as we were asked to examine the marketing concepts of FinagleaBagel. A bagel company that, at the outset of talking about its success, made a point to say that they are a “me-to” strategy. After we watched this documentary, the class was opened for discussion. I made it a point to say that I thought the me-to strategy was only a ’success’ because of the customer service they provide- which generally goes above the call of duty. They create something to talk about by providing customer service above the call of duty. I then continued in saying that I would really like to be able to pit this company up against a competitor of theirs who may have innovated in their industry. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about bagels.