think about the fact that the company providing the security services and essentially responsible for your life is generally the lowest bidder for the contract – what amazes me is the vast range of personalities I get exposed to each time. On a recent flight through LAX, the security agent was a young guy who I could hear asking every single passenger ahead of me whether they had a laptop. I usually carry one, and have heard 100 times how you need to remove it from your bag as you get scanned. However, as I got closer to this guy, I realized he was not just asking about the laptop for security purposes. Anyone who responded that they did have a laptop were immediately told by this animated guy that they MUST go to YouTube, and do a search for ‘worst car salesman’. That was his skit of which he was very proud, and he wanted to get the rankings up by getting more people viewing his video. Now, here’s a guy who normally does a job that brings out the worst in most people, but here he is using it as a marketing opportunity for a sideline interest he has – creating low-budget comedy videos. And hey, if you’re going to promote yourself to a stream of people, there’s few places where you could capture attention of more people for free than the LAX security line! He developed his pitch in a way that you couldn’t help smile and appreciate his entrepreneurial spirit. Of course, me being a student of marketing, I couldn’t help but to call up his video on YouTube, if for no other reason than to compensate him for his creative marketing. The video sucked. But that’s not the point. The point is, not only did he make me smile during a process in which I am normally unhappy to be present, but he’s not allowing the expectations most people have to determine HOW he does his jobb. Now, whether it’s appropriate for him to be doing this in LAX as a security guy is another question, but my guess is that he won’t be in that job very long. Either because he’ll get fired for doing what he’s doing, or he’ll soon figure out how to capitalize on that imagination and entrepreneurial crativity he has. It will probably be both. What defines how many people end up isn’t WHAT they do. It’s how they do it. I’ve always tried to do things differently and MY way, as opposed to just whateve everyone else is doing. McDonald’s isn’t the most profitable restaurant in the world because of WHAT they do. Their food sucks, and they are NOT on the top of the list when people are asked to name their favorite restaurant. It’s HOW they do it. Their systems are so structured and clear, and their marketing so pervasive, that they continue to make more money than any other restaurant, regardless of the quality of their actual product. It’s not WHAT you do, it’s HOW you do it. In my training business, there are a lot of other people out there that provide similar information to what I do. However, I focus heavily on HOW we deliver our experience, and how we teach and support our clients. I think our WHAT is pretty good and one of the best out there. But I think it’s our HOW that people remember, because the experience people have is much more important than the actual quality of the product. So when you look at what it is you do, HOW are you doing it? And is THAT what separates you from your competition? Because HOW is a competitive advantage, while WHAT is a commodity. And it doesn’t matter what product or service we’re talking about. Focus on HOW you deliver it, and you’ll drive more success and value through to the bottom line.]]>