“Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself- and thus make yourself indispensable.” - André Gide
Where you came from, how you were raised and what you do will complement the reasons why you are you. What makes you and your business special? How do you differentiate your business from competitions?
What does differentiation mean? From Wikipedia, in terms of math, differentiation is the process of finding a derivative or measure of “sensitivity to change of a quantity (dependent variable F(x)) which is determined by an independent variable.”
In equation form, it may look something like y = f(x) = m x + b where m and b are real numbers and m is the slope or m = change in y / change in x.
To illustrate, your slope determines your limit to changes. The exact formula will be different for everyone. The dependent variable is usually the function needed to find the missing piece in the puzzle. That missing piece is what differentiates you and your business. All you can really do is measure the number of changes you have done to measure success.
Success is going to be different for everyone since it is dependent on you. No one else has the same definition of success, unless your independent variable y is dependent on someone else.
Differentiation in Society
In terms of society, differentiation “is a means of increasing the complexity of a system ... to deal with the complexity of its environment”. Our environment is constantly changing and businesses must adapt to find solutions for new problems. In a previous blog post, one part of our ecosystem is always associated with another part of the system.
The complexity of our world comes from the cause and effect of each connection. One action on one part of the system will cause another part related to it to change as well. It may not be obvious to some because most of these influences happen slowly and on the background.
If you think negatively, these changes might hinder parts of your functioning business operations. But if you think positively, the effects of the environmental influences are the reasons why innovations exist in the first place. The faster you observe the problems and its effects, the better you get at identifying solutions before anyone else does.
Business Differentiation
According to Inc, the one who determines the solutions faster and better will help their business stand out and differentiate. This is one of the fundamentals why the world is infinite and naturally complex. However, complex does not always mean it has to be complicated. It really depends on the type of solutions you have found that will either help or lessen your business.
All you can really do is to experiment.This is why I do not reveal solutions until I know it completely work for all angles. Your business must continually change and keep up with the latest knowledge to patch up holes that the complexity of our environment naturally makes.
It is difficult to go against nature. No matter how much we try to pretend something we are not to fit in, our natural inclination is to be different. Make use of your uniqueness and be indispensable.
In addition to product / service differentiation, you can also use your culture, random knowledge and experiences to combine ideas and make something new. My best advice is to follow change, go with the flow and be proud of your uniqueness.
One of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes is “today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.” What makes you truer than true for being you?
