At Denver Business Coach we often work with business owners who are looking to improve the value of their company and position themselves for exponential growth and eventually a successful exit. One of the first things we do with a new client is to analyze their competitive advantage in the marketplace. For exponential growth a lot of things have to come together just right, and having strong value proposition is essential.
If competition is fierce, a natural tendency is to look at whether the product/service can be offered cheaper. Most of the time this is only accomplished by cutting into the profit margin, not through genuine innovation, and we all know that ultimately this is a race to the bottom and does not any value or scalability to the company whatsoever.
In the end, to be and stay competitive in the market place, a company must continually innovate to maximize the value they provide to their customers.
In today’s world, knowledge has become very specialized, and in a certain way siloed. This has helped immensely with efficiency, productivity and creating unseen profits for companies who can leverage scale.
But when it comes to solving new problems, specialized knowledge also comes with a prize: the inability to look at situation holistically and creatively (out of the box one may say).
Linus Pauling, a creative genius of the 20th century and one of only two people to win a Nobel Prize in two different areas once said,
“The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.”
Creating lots of ideas is only possible when one is able to connect different areas of specialized knowledge and transcend its intrinsic limitations. And that is exactly where a diverse network comes into play.
By having a highly diverse network, and within that network genuine exchange perspectives and ideas, one can develop a more complete, creative and unbiased views of issues. By exchanging information or skills with people whose experience is different from our own, we then provide one another with unique, exceptionally valuable resources, that can drive innovation and ultimately help our businesses create a stronger value proposition.
This principle doesn’t only apply when one plays in the “leagues” of Nobel Prize winners, or large corporate organizations, but is also very applicable to small business owners and professionals: Having a strong network, and being able to share ideas, perspectives and lessons learned, can accelerate success tremendously.
I am strong advocate of business owners surrounding themselves with a robust, diverse and active network of other leaders (from a diverse background) who inspire each other, share ideas and help bring them to live.
I believe our current members of Network in Action can be such an asset to your business. If you are looking to find a growth-oriented business community to collaborate with, I'd love to connect with you!
Simon Zryd is a Certified Value Builder at Denver Business Coach and Community Builder for Network in Action Denver. His passion is guiding Business Owners to build profitable, scalable and sellable businesses. And, connect them to the resources they need to do so.