Be known, wanted, valued and indispensable

Being great at something that no one knows or cares about can, at most, satisfy only one person: you. If you are to be great at something that matters to others – possibly millions –you must satisfy four conditions.

You must make yourself known to others – what you do and what you offer, and why it matters to them.

You and what you offer and can provide, must be wanted. Whether you are selling yourself as a potential mate, employee, designer or producer of things, deliverer of advice or services, healer or mentor, what you offer must stand out from the thousands of offers made to people daily. Yours must garner sufficient attention and interest to land on others’ radar screens.

The value you deliver must justify your asking price. Your role as a mate must be worth the cost of living with you. Your product or service must be attractive enough to crowd out other choices. The price of your artwork must be outweighed by the pleasure of seeing it hanging on another’s wall. Your salary must be seen as enabling a business to grow and satisfy its customers.

Finally, to be truly great, you must be indispensable to others – whether as a mate, an artist, a writer of crime fiction, a manufacturer of irrigation systems, a pediatrician or a conservator.

Being indispensable to one other for a lifetime is a noble achievement for anyone. Being indispensable to millions of others for their lifetimes and yours is what great businesses are made of.

Written by Michael

Michael Douglas has held senior positions in sales, marketing and general management since 1980, and spent 20 years at Sun Microsystems, most recently as VP, Global Marketing. His experience includes start-ups, mid-market and enterprises. He's currently VP Enterprise Go-to-Market for NVIDIA.

Strategy Studies