Do you want to make a difference? You can’t do that by being one of the masses. If you are in the middle, main stream, or moderate the one thing you cannot do is make a difference. The reason is simple your ideas, are just like every one else’s . If you are trying to think outside the box you are trying to think like everyone else. How is there a box? What is the purpose of a box? Think like a magician! What would be the most unexpected turn from where your product is right now? Or what your company is doing right now. It is the unexpected that is delights your customers and confounds your competitors.
The people in the middle of any issue or idea, i.e. the moderates, will never be the one responsible for changing a company, a product, or a culture. It is the extremist the ones with the radical ideas that move us in one direction or another. Extremism serves a purpose to move the boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not. Seth Godin in a recent blog recognized and commented on this very idea. An op-ed peice in the New York times by David Brooks comments on how similar the tea party and the new left from the 60 appear and behave. They are both extremist but they have/will make a difference. Those who voted for Perot in the 80’s did not throw their vote away. They changed the course of american politics for 20 years. If you are to make a change real in your the market place you need to be different. As Godin noted you will probably will not be able to move the masses all the way. Instead, what you will do is make them feel safe to change the boundaries. Over time, successful extremist don’t argue to win. “They argue to move the goalposts and to make it appear sane to do so.”
Make a difference, think like a magician and do something radical.
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