December_Pulse12 11/14/12 4:17 PM Page 30
ON GREATNESS, INNOVATION, HEALTH AND GRATITUDE
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28)
DAY 3: Peter Sheahan The Road to Innovation
F
ounder and CEO of ChangeLabs Peter Sheahan
delivered a high-energy message of innovation at
the final keynote address. Through his thoughtleadership practice, he has witnessed the changes
occurring within the spa industry many times before in other
industries. The spa industry has fundamentally changed and
continues to evolve; therein, lies the opportunity for growth.
Sheahan focused on three primary areas of growth—innovation, brand differentiation and team engagement—and
underlined them with the unity of collaboration.
to one of two sides: niche or cost. Sheahan clarified that
niche does not equate to high cost, indulgent or small—it
means you have a very clear niche value proposition. On the
cost side, price is also a legitimate strategy—Southwest
Airlines as an example. Choose cashews (niche) or pretzels
(cost), but he warned against attempting to play both sides
and being “cheap and amazing” at the same time. “The more
you try to be everything to everyone, the more you’ll be
nothing to anybody.”
Elevate Your Perspective
The good news? You don’t have to figure it all yourself. Your
job is not to have all the answers. Instead, co-create with
your team. Cultivate an environment that encourages growth
and innovation by starting the dialogue and having discussions with TAKEAWAY:
Does your team have a
the people who bring your brand
hand in shaping your
to life every single day. Give your
brand story?
team the opportunity to help you
define what your narrative looks like.
He finished with a fitting conclusion for the spa community. The ability to handle imminent change is dependent on
how well the spa community comes together as an industry
to collaborate.
“That’s why you’re a member of ISPA,” Sheahan said.
“That’s why you’re active in this organization. Because if we
all knew what we all knew, we’d be unstoppable.” ■
Engage Your Front Line
When was the last time you detached yourself from the dayto-day operations of your organization and hovered above the
industry as a whole? Have you
TAKEAWAY:
been caught up in the assumpWhat steps do you take to
tions about the industry? Have get elevation?
you noticed what is occurring
on the fringes of the industry?
Sheahan’s first powerful message was that, as industry
leaders, your job is to examine and question assumptions.
“Leadership requires that you get elevation,” he said. Suspend
judgment, step back and get some altitude.
By doing this, you can examine the trends occurring on
the periphery of the spa business. Start to innovate around
the fringes and avoid what he calls the “gravity of success”—
staying put with what seems to be working and not firing
bullets.
“Take risks. Start early. Shoot the bullets before you need
to,” he advised.
READING LIST
Books by Peter Sheahan
Differentiate Your Brand
●
What is the story of your brand? Every spa, every skin-care
line, every piece of high-tech
TAKEAWAY:
equipment has a narrative.
Is there clear evidence of
What is yours and what is the your story in your marketevidence of that narrative?
ing and sales initiatives?
Sheahan defines this as your
“value proposition”—the clear, compelling, “unique(ish)”
story that shapes your brand.
He explained that, historically, when an industry matures,
a wedge forms in the middle of the market that forces people
●
30 PULSE
■
December 2012
●
Flip: How to Turn Everything You Know on its Head
– and Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings
Making it Happen: Turning Your Good Ideas into
Great Results
Generation Y: Thriving and Surviving with
Generation Y at Work
Books by Jim Collins
●
●
●
Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why
Some Thrive Despite Them All (co-authored by
Morten T. Hansen)
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the
Leap...and Others Don’t
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary
Companies (co-authored by Jerry I. Porras)