“Do something different, do it right and end up with the highest quality product.”
- Charles Mellowes, founder of Charter Wire, now part of Charter Manufacturing
“There are no new ideas…” I’ve said it. I’ve written it here in these posts. Mike Rowe said it on a recent Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Dozens of folks I know have said it. And I think we’re directionally correct.
That said, Joe Rogan disagrees. I know dozens of people who disagree. And I think they’re also directionally correct.
Maybe the time and the circumstances make an old idea seem new. Or maybe the time and circumstances are so clouded by our biases and experience that they make a new idea seem rehashed. Or, maybe there really are ideas that have never been hatched before. It’s not a black and white consideration.
That’s why I was drawn to Mr. Mellowes’ statement this week, as I help clients do things differently they’ve done forever.
“Do something different,” he says. Not necessarily to do a “different thing.” Not a new thing. But something. Here’s the magic, at least for me. “Do it right!” The Heston Group’s model is based on doing the right thing, the right way at the right time. For over a decade, I’ve been tempted to change it. Because what I mean is to do “a right thing.” Rarely, if ever, are we faced with only one right thing.
Especially in our business lives, looking at a problem, agreeing on a series of right-thing-options, and then executing one of them the right way (not halfway, not wishy-washy or mamby-pamby, but full swing, all-in-doing it!) gives us the best opportunity to end up with the highest quality outcome, or, as Mr. Mellowes put it, the highest quality “product.”
Maybe it’s in the steel industry. Maybe it’s daycare. Maybe it’s grocery, hardware, lobbying, landscaping, providing advisory services, selling automobiles, or dry cleaning services.
Doing something different the right way.
It’s worth considering if we want to separate ourselves from a market that AI, competitors, and every other Tom, Dick, and Harry are trying to commoditize.
If you want some help with this approach, I know a guy!
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