Greetings.  If you read this blog regularly or even occasionally you know that I spend a lot of time thinking about the importance of providing unique and compelling value to customers, employees, and partners.  Now a new book titled Different, by Harvard Business School professor Youngme Moon, offers some fresh thinking on part of this important topic.  Sharing her perspective and insight on well-known companies including Google, JetBlue, Swatch, and IKEA, she suggests three characteristics of brands that are truly different:

1. They "offer something that is hard to come by."
2. They "reflect a commitment to a big idea" and to being "different in a big way."
3. They are "intensely human" and are "acutely sensitive to the complexities of the human spirit."

It's a thoughtful and enjoyable read that should spark your genius as you think about new ways to set your company or organization apart.

We win in business by standing out from the crowd in ways that make a real difference.

Cheers and happy reading!