Joe Calloway

Substance over style

Joe Calloway is unimpressed with the increasingly common idea that, in order to compete successfully, you must think outside the box to come up with some "wow factor" to make your business unique and set it apart from all your competitors and amaze and delight your customers. On the contrary, his basic premise is that most businesses would benefit from spending more time thinking inside the box, focusing on the handful of things that are truly most important for your show more business to do (including, but not limited to, important to your customers), and getting so good at the basics that you're cutting edge...because when you win on the basics, you win it all.

Take Southwest Airlines, one of the many excellent examples Calloway discusses throughout the book. Sure, they have singing flight attendants, videos of whom have gone viral via social media. But that's not why Southwest is one of the top most trusted brands among both men and women (which is remarkable, considering the airline industry in general is not known for its satisfied customers). Southwest succeeds because it has low fares, great service, and gets there on time...in other words, it wins on the basics. The fun flight attendants are pure gravy.

Calloway also applies this basic idea to other areas of running a business. My favorite chapter, for example, is the one on culture. Even business leaders skeptical of the idea should take it seriously, Calloway argues, because culture drives results, and "You can't not have a culture. The only question is whether your organization's culture was created by accident or created with intention." A business's culture is "what matters most to you internally, as a team", how what you and your people actually value is expressed in the actions of everyone in the business. I found this extremely helpful, in that it's analogous to character on an individual level, and it helped deepen my understanding of culture in general on a broader, societal level. And as with character, to cultivate your business's culture you need to think about what your basic values are, and make sure they are applied consistently across the board.

The only minor drawback is that Calloway seems a bit wishy-washy in places, avoiding getting too specific as to what actually matters most. Partly this is just being context-sensitive, recognizing that different things may legitimately work better for different businesses, which is fine. But he walks a thin line between that and a more pragmatic, anything goes as long as it works for you approach. I can interpret that in a way that's okay if you really understand what will actually work for you, but it also leaves the door open for his concept to be misunderstood and misused.

But on the whole, this book is chock full of valuable insights and useful information. You might also enjoy Jay Baer's Youtility, which takes a similar anti-bells and whistles, style over substance and instead providing real value to the customer approach applied more specifically to marketing in today's social media environment.

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This book came along at the perfect time in my life and work. I’ve been thinking about vision a fair bit, and this lent so much clarity and direction just when I needed it. Helpful case studies and reflection questions helped me to take my action items to the next level.

I read business books as self-help books, ways to improve myself. This book is right up there with the best of them. You don't need to be a business person to gain value from reading it. The point, in our mad, multitasking world, is simple: you can't be the best at everything. You need to focus on up to three things, and then concentrate on one of them.

My friend, Mark True, recommended this book to me. I found it very easy to read and extremely thought-provoking. It's about how to set yourself apart in your marketplace by doing something that no one else is doing. I'd call it a must read for anyone looking to...well become a "category of one" company.