NP wrote an absolutely super post about Boris Becker this week.
In it, he say’s that rather than focus on his opponents weaknesses, he would play them at their own game – letting his confidence and ability intimidate/undermine the competition by overcoming the best that they could throw at him.
He continues to say that too much strategy is focused on weakness rather than taking on the competition at their own game and he’s absolutely right.
Of course there are some exceptions – but in the main, a lot of strategy is more influenced by what the competition are doing than the brand’s own goals and abilities – and when you take into account how much strat is influenced by the planners and clients own personal perspectives/agendas on data/life/business, you come to realize that much of business is about personal indulgence and/or fear, than embracing the true potential of an organisation.
I cannot tell you the amount of times I’ve had clients say to me, “That sounds abit arrogant” and yet I don’t know what’s wrong with that.
Surely it’s better to be arrogant than passive and pointless?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting arrogance is valid if there’s no substance behind it.
I remember being in a Virgin meeting where Mr Branson himself said to me, “You have to earn the right to be arrogant” and you know what, he’s right.
You see too many companies read ‘arrogance’ as rude … but if you are committed to doing what you say [and what people want] I don’t think they’d mind arrogance, infact they’d probably like to be associated with a winner.
Eric Cantona was hardly passive was he?
Steve Jobs isn’t exactly a wallflower?
Fuck, even Bono is known for being a rather ‘full-of-himself’ individual and I don’t see people walking away from them in their millions?
The thing is, arrogance is all about tone.
I believe there are degrees of it – and if you handle it correctly, I think it’s a bloody great attribute, and what would be better than taking on the establishment and winning?
Hell, what do you think Virgin do?
And the thing is, the people who think they are arrogant are the ones who are being beaten by them, not the ones benefiting from their actions.
OK, so I know you’ll come back to me and say arrogance and confidence might come from the same ‘family’, but they’re not the same – and you’re probably right – but then my response is one man’s arrogance is another man’s hero so I guess we’ll go round and round in circles on that, ha.
So here’s the thing, if a client of yours openly says they don’t want to be arrogant – explain to them what it could actually mean interms of brand value and their customer loyalty – and if they’re still scared, get rid of them because they have no intention of making a real difference in their category or their customers lives, and if they don’t want to do that, then what the hell are they dealing with you for?