Mike McCallaway argues entrepreneurs waste energy trying to be better when they should focus on being different. Michael Phelps gets attention, but most gold medalists don't. A diver doing a cannonball won't win, but everyone will notice.
Welcome to On a Roll, and now here's your host, Mike McCallaway. If you think better is better, you're in for a doozy of a video or message or whatever I'm about to tell you. But first, I want to start off with my swagster. Check out this little thing that slipped onto my desk, The Dip by Seth Godin. I read it in about 2 milliseconds. I think it's 6 pages long. It's really a It's a good book. It's a great book. Seth Godin's The Dip, I highly recommend it.
Books are great. Books make me smart. Books make me smart.
Oh God. Okay. So let's talk about better. So many entrepreneurs are striving to be better. I'm sure you are better than your competition in some way. I'm sure you're better in a few things. The thing is, better doesn't get noticed. Think about the Olympics. Everyone knows Michael Phelps. He was the best. He got 8 gold medals. 8! But what about the other guys that got 1 or 2 golds? You don't even know their name. Now they were better. They were better than most, but they weren't the best. So, the best wins. But there's a problem with being the best. It's really, really effing hard to be the best. I mean, Michael Phelps has smoked a lot of pot to be that good. So, the key here is being different. Different wins. Different gets noticed. Could you imagine at the next Olympics one of the divers does a cannonball into the water and doesn't dive in like the rest? That guy's gonna get noticed. I don't know if he's gonna win the race, but he'll get noticed. So here's the lesson for today: different gets noticed, and you better back it with some quality. But stop trying to always be better or trying to be the best. It's too hard. Just Be different. Hmm. So let's talk about who's better here. Let's actually start with Tappy. What are you better at, Tappy? Excuse me?
That half-witted ninny isn't better at anything. I am better than everyone in this office. I'm better at eating, writing— I'll tell you one thing. He ain't better smellin'.
