5 Most Common Mistakes

After twenty-six years of working with organizations on their brand, strategy, and market positioning, these are the five most common mistakes that I’ve seen.

 Short-term thinking over long-term gains. While a rapid response to changing market conditions is important, much of what a business does to earn success (in nearly all ways you can define and measure it) is long-term thinking and long-term strategy.

Positioning over strategy. This common mistake many marketers make is to assume that a positioning exercise is the strategy for your business. While positioning can have some strategic implications, it’s only an outcome of a solid strategy that does much more than simply positioning your brand in the marketplace. 

Product over people. (The myth of the overnight sensation.) We see this today with the “great resignation” as companies who haven’t invested in nourishing their people are now scrambling to shore up their culture and talent attraction pipeline. The best time to build a great culture is 10 years ago. The second best time is now. It’s great people that will innovate you into your best products and services. 

Wants over needs. While it’s important to want to give people what they want, it’s more important is to solve for what people need. By solving for what they need, you give them more than what they want. Highly successful companies have three things in common: the motivation to serve, the ability to solve, and the opportunity to do both. 

Outward management over inside leadership. Many managers of organizations spend more time managing perception and trying to live up to the hype around them. Leadership is ultimately an inside job, as no organization will out evolve its leaders’ own evolution. 

Do any of these sound familiar? If so, you should pick up my new bookThe Beautiful Business. Pre-orders are available now.

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P.S. Check out my friend Owen Ó Súilleabháin’s Inner 360 Course: Unveiling the Symbolic Landscape of Leadership
If you are interested in sharpening your “internal game,” or you’re a coach who wants to incorporate innovative methods for client work, I recommend giving this course a look. I’ve worked with Owen for years in our Studio partnership — he’s sure to both inspire and inform you!