Competition in the business world is a powerful force. Business leaders and sales people worldwide compete on the corporate battlefield every day: fighting to retain market share; monitoring the movements of their competitors; watching for new threats. Beating the competition is all that stands in the way of personal and corporate glory.
Perhaps your biggest competitor is not the known names that you face each day, but complacency.
Complacency in the workplace can manifest itself on both the individual and corporate levels. Both are equally threatening to the long-term ability to compete and win on the corporate battlefield. Complacency causes great sales people to become another face dropping off a box of donuts. Complacency causes memorable products to become stepping stones for competitive innovation. Complacency causes innovative leaders to become reactive followers.
If you have defaulted into a pattern of corporate complacency, it is time to take control of your own destiny. Stop basing your business on your competitor’s business. Focus your energy on identifying the value you and your company deliver in the marketplace. Then, allow your personality and passion for success to morph into something unexpectedly brilliant. It’s okay to change the rules of the game when it’s done strategically and with purpose; make sure you do so in a way that allows you and your company to leverage your unique strengths and core competencies.
At the Alias Group, reflection and strategic reinvention is part of the fabric of the company. Each year, there have been changes in structure and policy to keep the company’s operations fresh and progressive. Staying forward thinking and in competition with ourselves prevents stagnation. Creation and implementation of a flat, team-based organizational structure has provided a platform that effectively scales operations to accommodate the future growth in staff and revenue. Policies have been enhanced to allow for employee centric flexible working arrangements and Open Paid Time Off. The Alias Group’s approach requires putting blinders on when it comes to what everyone else is doing and concentrating all of our efforts on what is ahead.
Take some time to celebrate your accomplishments and be satisfied with a job well done, but don’t get so caught up admiring the view that you forget there are better ones ahead if you keep going.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Patterson is the President and CEO of The Alias Group, a company devoted to helping businesses grow through inside sales and digital marketing. The company has been active for more than 25 years and works to bring customized, individual sales and marketing solutions to clients and continues to emphasize growth on both sides of their company/client relationship.
He got his start by building on the successes of his father’s sales and distribution company, expanding into more aspects of industrial sales and adding an entire marketing division. As the company grew, the sales and marketing services evolved into a new brand: The Alias Group. The company underwent significant improvements as it grew. The facility, technology, corporate structure, and culture evolved; internally, The Alias Group refined to a team structure, instituted an open PTO plan, and actively applied The Alias Group’s core values: Unique Focus, Genuine Connection, and Deliver More.
Mike is dedicated to the company’s work and steady expansion, but when he is away from the office, he’s enjoying travel, visiting Dewey beach with his wife and three sons, or spending time on the sidelines of sporting events (whether they are those of his sons or The Ravens).