To my continual astonishment, I get word from time to time that my book, The 5 Best Decisions the Beatles Ever Made: A Handbook for “Top of the Charts” Success, is being used as a textbook in some college and university business courses. The astonishment is not because I think it’s a bad book—it’s not—but because I didn’t write it with academicians in mind. I wrote it for the managers, supervisors, and leaders who are actually out there in the real world, and who are trying to drive their teams to the “top of the charts.” Still, it’s nice to be recognized by those in higher ed, and occasionally one of them will invite me to do a guest lecture. Such was the case about a week ago when I was delivering a guest lecture to a business grad school class, and one of the students asked an interesting question.
“You’re saying that we should play to our strengths by identifying what we can do better than anyone else,” he asked, “but other people are telling us we need to diversify and develop multiple streams of income. Aren’t these incompatible?”
Good question. And the short answer is…no.
But perhaps I should elaborate a little.
I think diversification and having multiple streams of income are very important. I do them myself. Although my primary income comes from my work as a keynote speaker, I also get income from book sales, coaching, seminars and workshops, teleseminars, CD sales, and a few other sources. But here’s the important thing: all of these diverse streams of income fall under the umbrella of what I do best. What I do best is help leaders become more successful by modeling the success of the Beatles. That’s what my keynote presentation is about, that’s what my book is about, and that’s what my other income streams are about as well. In other words, I’m still playing to my strengths, but finding different channels in which to do so.
Now, if I were to suddenly decide to further diversify by, say, opening a shoe store—well, let’s just say that I wouldn’t recommend you invest in my new enterprise. A shoe store might be a fine business, but it’s light years away from my strengths.
The Beatles actually made this mistake in December, 1967. They decided to open a clothing store—the Apple Boutique. Now, the Beatles’ strength was music. Music was what the Beatles did best. So what did running a clothing store have to do with music? Nothing! With the Apple Boutique, the Beatles were no longer playing to their strengths, and, as a result, the Boutique was a dismal failure, closing within eight months.
The secret is to identify what you do best, and then come up with diverse ways to offer your expertise to the world. If, for example, you’re an expert in repairing cars, you could open a car repair garage. Pretty straightforward, so far. But look at how NPR’s Car Talk guys took that same strength and diversified it into multiple streams of income. First, a garage; then, a radio show; then, books, a web site—even a cartoon series!
Yes, I want you to play to your strengths. I want you to focus on what you do best. The world needs what you have to offer. The world needs your expertise. And the more ways you can offer that expertise to the world, the better off the world will be, and the better off you’ll be.
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2009
About the Author:
29-time Emmy Award winner and Hall of Fame keynote speaker Bill Stainton, CSP is an expert on Innovation, Creativity, and Breakthrough Thinking. He helps leaders and their teams come up with innovative solutions — on demand — to their most challenging problems.