Yesterday the topic was differentiation – creating a unique brand in your market/industry. Today we turn to differentiation’s twin – disruption.
Often people confuse the two terms as being synonymous. They are not. You can be unique and stand out while supporting every traditional pillar of the old guard. Being different simply means you are thinking different enough from everyone else.
Disruption is thinking truly differently than everyone else. Disruption is refusing commissions entirely while being a true broker. Getting paid only on value is disruption. Disruption is forming an organization which helps small to mid size businesses bring the brokerage function internal (the same way that many CFO organizations help small to mid size businesses professionalize their finance function).
If you want to be really disruptive, don’t just speak out against the market inefficiencies you see while continuing to take advantage of them – drive change yourself even if it costs you in the short term. Many Fortune 500 organizations started because they attacked entrenched inefficiencies even at their short term financial disadvantage. The thing about disruption is that when it works, you win all of the business even if it is at a lower revenue per event.