Building Competitive Advantage Is Not Enough

Posted by Jim Connolly on 25 January, 2010  Email This Post -  Print This Post

As a business owner/leader I would guess that one of the things that probably frustrates you is that employees don’t think like you do.  That’s why you’re the owner, isn’t it?  You may have numerous examples of how your employees “don’t get it.”  If you had to rank them, what’s the most significant issue that employees don’t get?

 My guess is that the single most important issue that employees don’t understand is this:  competitive advantage is fleeting.  Organizations need to build the reality of having advantages only temporarily into how we hire, develop, allocate and manage resources. 

More than any other issue, I don’t think employees grasp this reality.  So, they wonder why you were pleased with last quarter’s results, but now you’re preoccupied with this quarter’s results.  You’re pleased that we signed two new good sized customers, but concerned about losing long-standing customers.

Do you agree/disagree that the fleeting nature of competitive advantage is the #1 issue that your employees don’t see?  If not this issue at the top of the list, what is the #1 issue that employees don’t see that you see?  Click on Comment and post your response.