The Importances of Style and Substance
Yesterday, my guest on Indie Business Radio was leadership expert and author Mark Sanborn. In his most recent book The Encore Effect, Mark shares his 5 tips to help you deliver "performances" that leave your customers applauding and wanting more. I'll let you know when the download is ready. Meanwhile, I wanted to share that Mark also answered my spur of the moment question about his impressions of the leadership qualities of the leading presidential candidates. Without getting "all political," Mark shared his thoughts about a single important strength of each one of them.
As an initial thought, Mark noted that the most effective leaders have a combination of both style and substance. While noting that both of this year's presidential candidates have some of both, he also pointed out that Senator McCain has a lot of substance that he does not always deliver in a stylish way. By contrast, Senator Obama, who is much younger and far less experienced than McCain, is incredibly talented when it comes to stylishly packaging the experience he does have.
In my work with Indie Business owners through the years, I have observed this dichotomy over and over again. That is, a client will have a fantastic product or service but their delivery is kind of flat and boring. Other clients have great delivery and style, but there's not much substance there yet. One of my jobs as their coach is to help them work on both.
Now I'm not saying that Senator Obama has no substance or that Senator McCain has no style. I'm just pointing out that each candidate is obviously stronger in one area than in the other, and also, how important it is for us as Indies to strive for both style and substance.
What about you?
How do you evaluate your substance and style? Are you actively seeking to work on both, so you have both an excellent product or service, and a stylish way of delivering it? How are you working to combine both your style and your substance to create a memorable experience for your customers and clients? Share your tips, question and experiences in the comments section below.
For more fun posts about fun people, subscribe to Indie Business Blog today.
If you like Indie Business Blog, please share the home page with your friends using this link: http://tinyurl.com/6l5h79.
