“True differentiation is rarely a function of well-roundedness; it is typically a function of lopsidedness.”
Harvard Business School Professor Youngme Moon shared this truth in the book, “Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd.”
Lopsiding is the “L” in the FLAWSOME framework for differentiation in Pink Goldfish 2.0.
This strategy runs counter to the norm. Most “normal” brands are trying to be balanced and well-rounded. It’s interesting to note that synonyms for balanced include: sane, right, normal, and stable. Those sound like worthy goals:
“Be the perfect amount of everything.”
“Be the best of both worlds.”
“Make everyone happy.”
“Eliminate flaws, minimize them, decrease them, diminish them, and lessen them.”
David Rendall and I think this is the wrong approach if you want to stand out in business. We advocate for Lopsiding.
Lopsiding is about being unbalanced, imperfect, unstable, and odd.
Let’s stop here for a second. Antonyms for unbalanced include: crazy, insane, and unsound. Those don’t sound like promising descriptions of brand strategy, but bear with us.
Lopsiding involves amplifying, not reducing, your brand’s flaws. We want you to expand them, magnify them, increase them, turn them up, exaggerate them, and then supersize them.
Brands who lopside are purposefully doing MORE of what makes them imperfect. This is flaunting imperfection at its best. You aren’t just proud of your weaknesses, you are expanding and extending them. You are doubling down to accentuate your flaws.
Lopsiding is not for the faint of heart. It takes courage to call attention to existing weaknesses. It takes even more courage to make those weaknesses worse, to exaggerate them.
What are you LOPSIDING?
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Stan Phelps walks the walk. He stands out in the sea of sameness by modeling his own Differentiated Experience (DX) message: Differentiation isn’t just about what you say, it’s about what you do and, more importantly, how and why you do it. Stan leverages his unique collection of 5,000+ case studies on customer, employee, and brand experience to engage audiences with informative learning-based experiences. He believes purposeful DX wins the hearts of employees and customers, and differentiation ultimately boosts loyalty, retention, referrals, and results.
Find Stan’s in-person and virtual keynotes, workshops, and Goldfish tank programs at StanPhelps.com.