Industry Magazine Grand General Agency Spring 2016 | Page 18

“EVERY LIMIT IS A BEGINNING AS WELL AS AN ENDING.”
- George Eliot
to do both. However, there are a number
of problems with this approach. Most
importantly, since weaknesses and
strengths are linked, attempting to fix
a weakness can actually diminish the
corresponding strength. This fact is best
illustrated by the discount retail industry.
Walmart’s main strength is low prices
and its weaknesses include poor quality
merchandise, long lines and unhelpful
employees. On the other hand, Target’s
main strengths are higher quality
products from well-known designers,
attractive stores and helpful associates
who are quick to open a new checkout
lane. Unfortunately, Target’s weakness is
that its prices are not as low as those at
Walmart.
So, what would happen if Walmart tried
to do both? What if they tried to build on
their strengths and fix their weaknesses?
What would happen to their low prices,
their primary strength, as they added
better products and extra employees at
the registers? The answer is simple, their
prices would climb, thus diminishing their
strength.
Similarly, what if Target decided to fix
their weakness by lowering prices? What
would happen to the level of customer
service and the great products that give
them their advantage if they focused
more on cost cutting? Again, the answer is
straightforward, their quality and service
would decrease, thus diminishing their
strength.
If you don’t believe me, just look at
Kmart.
Kmart provides an illustration of what
happens when a company, or individual,
loses focus and tries to do both. Their
historical leadership in discount retail was
based on the blue-light special, a symbol
of low prices. However, they did not focus
exclusively on this price advantage and
began to lose customers to Walmart.
Kmart then began adding designer
products from celebrities like Martha

SPRING 2016

Stewart, but wasn’t quite ready to shed
their low-price image. This allowed Target
to capture higher-income customers that
were design conscious. Kmart’s failure to
focus ultimately led to bankruptcy. They
weren’t the best at anything, so customers
had no reason to shop there. Their failure
illustrates the dangers of doing both, of
trying to be well-rounded.
There is a compelling reason to go to
Walmart, low prices. There is a compelling
reason to go to Target, a better shopping
experience. There is not a compelling
reason to go to Kmart, so people don’t.
This is very important. If you try to be
everything to everybody, you’ll end up
being nothing to nobody.
3. APPRECIATION - We succeed because
of our weaknesses, not in spite of them.
Dyslexia is a disability. People with
dyslexia get letters and words mixed up
and this leads to major problems with
reading and writing. This, in turn, is a major
barrier to success. Or is it?
A recent study showed that 35% of
small business owners have dyslexia.
This is surprising because only 10% of
Americans have dyslexia, but they make
up more than 33% of entrepreneurs in the
US.
Another study found that people with
dyslexia are far more likely to become
millionaires. In fact, almost half of the
millionaires in the study had dyslexia.
Examples of wealthy dyslexics include
Virgin founder, Richard Branson, JetBlue
founder, David Neeleman, and Kinko’s
founder, Paul Orfalea. The subtitle
of Orfalea’s book is Lessons from a
Hyperactive Dyslexic who Turned a
Bright Idea into One of America’s Best
Companies.
How does this happen? What explains
their success?
It seems that dyslexia is a two-edged
sword. The obvious weaknesses are

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