Stand Out or Blend In
This morning I went to vote at my local high school. It was early morning, a little after 7 am.
By Hubert Kang
“Each one of you has something no one else has, or has ever had: your fingerprints, your brain, your heart. Be an individual. Be unique. Stand out. Make noise. Make someone notice. That's the power of individuals.”
— Jon Bon Jovi
This morning I went to vote at my local high school. It was early morning, a little after 7 am.
For high schoolers, it's that time of year (late May) when they're all in a hurry to finish the school year and enjoy a long Summer break.
I handed in my ballot, grabbed my sticker, and glanced around at what I'd best describe as a "sea of sameness" surrounding me. It struck me as I was leaving, that at the basest level, high school is a collection of backpacked students trying to blend in with their peers.
Same look, same clothes, same demeanor.
In thinking back to my own high school days - I remembered that fitting and blending in is what each of us were aiming to do. It's how you survive adolescence.
The reality is, "fitting in serves us well until it doesn't." There comes a point when we realize that we have to move on from blending in to survive and instead, step into our own uniqueness.
For those of us who start and run our own companies, we soon realize that our businesses are an extension of our own identity.
But how is your business identity being shared with others?
Are you optimizing for survival, or capitalizing on your own uniqueness?
2 Takeaways
1. Tune Your Website. If you can copy the messaging from a competing website, paste it into yours, hide the names and logos, and not draw an eye...you're way past due. Stop blending in. If you're too desktop-centric and not spending enough time on mobile and app versions, it's time to get under the hood. Testing your web page load times for sub-2 seconds is a good practice. Finally, if a month has passed without any content updates on your site, it's time to start posting.
2. Pruned Trees Are Healthier. Old leaves and long branches may seem comfortable and protective (back to our default survival mode), but cutting them loose makes growth easier. Meadows and forests are lined with similar trees. When you prune the old limbs off your current business, you'll reveal its unique aspects and personal views, and prime yourself for new growth.
1 Action
I usually write about adding tools and tasks to help your business. Today I'll ask, what can you "prune" this week to create room for future growth? A software you've become too reliant on? A customer that drains you A process you no longer believe in, but still follow Blending in today might mean never considering the paragraph above, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Standing out might mean adopting contrarian views, communicating them to people in your business orbit, and cutting things that others wouldn't.