We are motivated, intelligent, and have a strong desire to succeed, but too often we find our goals to be moving targets, and we shoot at a goal where it was 5 seconds ago instead of where it will be in 5 seconds, so we miss by 10 seconds. Why do we make this mistake, and how do we change?
First a back story:
I recently traveled to Seattle for a business trip where I was to be trained on new products and would participate in meetings to help forge the direction in which the company would move. I had arrived a day early so I could take a tour of the city, and as I waited for my friend to collect me for the tour, I watched Modern Marvels of the Military on the History Channel. The episode discussed how the sniper can change the outcome of wars by selectively eliminating key people, from military leaders to political leaders and everybody in between. The show pointed to the Kentucky Long Rifle Men of the Revolutionary War being the original sniper, and through their expertise in shooting, these original snipers took the advantage of a bigger, better equipped British army, and put the advantage in the expert marksmanship of the snipers. The British army preferred a straight forward, time honored tradition of war where two sides met in a field and took/inflicted massive quantities of casualties, like gentlemen. The Americans knew they would not survive that way, so they innovated and found a way to meet their goal.
Many companies and individuals are much like the British. My company is part of the world’s largest manufacturers of their industry. We have the size and resources to defeat competitors; however, we believe in being “gentlemen”, and our competitors are not afraid to snipe.
One target of their sniping is our product line. Pointing to one of our product lines as obsolete (though still preferred by many) and another product as ineffective (again still popular), the competitors have effectively waged a war against our brands and the battleground is the attention of the potential customers. Consumers want to believe a company has integrity, so when a company posts a “study” or “research”, many will accept the claims at face value. My company has integrity and is very concerned about truth in advertisement, so we are decorated generals sitting atop steeds with bright spotless uniforms, and we are getting shot.
The other target is claims of what a product can do. Since our company is in a field with potential health benefits, enumerating those benefits is important; however, there is our approach (British gentlemen sitting on horses), and there is the approach of the sniper (get the job done). Our company is careful to only state verifiable claims as researched and concluded by medical research professionals. Our competitors will make claims ranging from anecdotal evidence and questionable testimonies to studies for which they paid the researchers for the results (not independent 3rd party analysis), and finally, they will stretch the verifiable claims as far as can be done, all with the use of the word, “may”. Ex. Such and such product may cure everything from the common cold to cancer. As stated before, consumers want to believe that a laundry detergent will make mud soaked socks whiter than a peace lily at Easter, so the claims may be unfounded, but the competitors enjoy the advantage of not facing the firing squad because they hide in the cover of non-committal language. Our company stands boldly before the enemy with confidence in what we say being true.
Like in the American Revolution, the snipers have changed the battle. What once was a fight between manufacturers to provide the best product for a competitive price, has become guerilla warfare to discredit the competition to win the advantage. We have yet to embrace this technique, and it has cost us market share, reputation, and we continually miss our goals, as the targets are quickly retreating with the snipers.
How does this relate to you, me, and businesses? In our personal and professional lives, we set goals that are often influenced by the activities of others. If we approach the goal with the same mindset and plan each day, we are going to miss the goals if the other influencers have changed their tactics. A job description (or goal) may have a set of requirements upon posting, but as others compete for the position, the goal changes. If two similarly qualified individuals are competing for the same job, which one “looks” better for the position? Does one appear to work better with co-workers than the other? Who seems more interested in the work assigned and the company in general? Who takes more accountability for a project from start to completion? While it may not be appropriate for you to snipe your opponent, to achieve your goal you must know your weaknesses and strength and know which areas might be targeted. This should not make a person paranoid; rather, it should encourage us to do something we seldom do enough of: know ourselves. If we know our strengths and our weaknesses and are prepared to use them for our offense or a prepared to protect them with our defense, we can achieve our goals, especially when competing against others.
What am I going to recommend my company do? I am going to suggest we push our boundaries to where we are comfortable with the truth and ethics of our statements, but where we don’t leave opportunities to be enjoyed only by competitors, and when our products are sniped, I am going to suggest we set fire to their cover, so they cannot hide from the truth of their comments. It may not end the war, but it will even the battlefield if they can no longer hide.