IDEAS

I am reading the book, NOW, Discover Your Strengths and I recently took the strengths test they offer at http://www.strengthsfinder.com/. One of my top 5 strengths was Ideation. I have to confess that upon reading this description I was surprized to learn that loving ideas was a strength. 

My husband and I have been renovating our house for a little over a year. Early on, we quickly found out that I was overwhelming him with my ideas. He is an analytical type (he is an engineer) and I have an endless supply of ideas about what we can do to our house. He thought that every idea I expressed was something that I actually desired to do. Thankfully we have realized that there is a difference in the way that our brains work and I was able to explain to him that ideas excite me and I need to talk about them. I am aware that we may only do 5% of my ideas and now he knows this too and can rest easy!

I was just reading the blog, Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds and his last post has links to a Seth Godin presentation and a Ben & Jerry's presentation. Both of these videos capture the essence of ideas. Seth's presentation theme is actually this: "Ideas That Spread, WIN." It is getting harder and harder to spread ideas. Instead of 10 TV channels, we now have hundreds of channels and with the invention of TiVo, people can skip commercials. We must create new and more creative ways to spread our ideas to people.

The Ben & Jerry's presentation starts out with a description of how their ice cream company was able to succeed in an unconventional manner. If you have never heard how 2 hippies from Vermont were able to take on Pillsbury and Haagen Daaz, you really need to watch the first half of this video clip. The more creative you can be in spreading your ideas, the more likely it will be that you will WIN.

Red Penguin

At my last job, the president/COO of the company, Pat Riley, was always talking about the Red Penguin experience. Basically a Red Penguin is someone who exhibits a wow factor, they go above and beyond what is expected of them, thus adding intrensic value to their business.

 

An simple example of this would be employees at Chick-fil-A always saying, "My pleasure" when they serve you.

I believe that Seth Godin calls this type of person/experience the "Purple Cow."

Whether you are talking about penguins or cows, I think that the message of these men is that in this over-crowded markeplace, you have to find ways to stand out from your competition.

This morning I had a Red Penguin at Starbucks. I was up early, working on a last minute project, and then I had to run my husband to the bus stop at 6:00 a.m. Since I was up and working, I took the opportunity to run into my local Starbucks.

The woman behind the counter was a wonderful example of a Red Penguin. After taking my order, she took the time to converse with me. She asked me about my weekend plans and then was generally excited for me when I told her that I was going to the beach. I am not the type of person to shout out my plans to the world so it felt good to have personal interaction, even with a stranger.

After I left her post and waited for my coffee to be mixed, I listened as she continued to be genuinely interested in the customers in line behind me.

In our world of drive-up/drive-through/walk-through machines where you can choose to avoid human contact, it is refreshing to have a person interested in you. She could have taken my order and still been courteous, but she went above and beyond and took the time to connect with me.

Maybe it is a woman thing, but connecting with people, whether they are strangers, friends or family is important to me and I feel that it is becoming a lost commodity. If you are looking for a way to stand out from the competition, try connecting with your customers/clients on a human level.