Chasing Cool 1: Engineer Your Point of Difference

Just read a great book called, Chasing Cool. Thought I’d share a few ideas from it and process them out loud …

A few quotes:

  • “Think different is what should define every company, not Me-Too.” (pg 2)
  • “Clearly, there’s a critical lesson to be learned here: in a category that is based almost exclusively on a bland product – a commodity like, say, vodka, tissues, water, whatever – to truly break through, your point of difference often needs to be engineered.” (10)
  • Talk about having a completely disruptive strategy, “stepping to the right” of the competition, where no one else is standing.

This is one of my personal rallying cries. Think different, not “me too.” I love North Point, but I believe one North Point is enough. I love Life Church, but I believe one Life Church is enough. What God’s Kingdom needs is something new, and that is uniquely you. Isn’t this part of what God is getting at in the Bible when He asks us to sing a new song, and when He promises to give us dreams and visions?

Don’t you have something different to offer? God has given you a distinctive voice, let’s hear it! And, if you don’t have your own vision, maybe you’re not the person God has called to lead your own thing? Maybe you’re someone God wants to use to make someone else’s vision become a reality. There’s nothing wrong with that…

So, what do you think? Am I wrong? If so, why?