A scene in the movie City Slickers metaphorically defines the challenge and opportunity organizations face for attaining mindshare to reach next level goals: Curly, the grizzled cowboy who’s leading the group driving cattle from the dude ranch, asks Mitch, who’s going through a midlife crisis, “Do you know what the secret of life is?” before answering his own question, “One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean shit.” (read how mindshare drives next level outcomes)

Allow us to connect the dots…

Mitch’s problem is he’s surviving, not thriving. Many companies have a similar struggle.

They’re running ragged doing the work of the business. They’re innovating and launching products and services. They’re giving demonstrations, pitching customers, and building channel partnerships. They’re posting on LinkedIn and going to trade shows.

And they’re unintentionally gravitating to sameness. They’re a fill-in-the-blank product or service in the fill-in-the-blank category. They boast an array of fill-in-the-blank features and deliver a list of fill-in-the-blank techno-business benefits. Perhaps they’ve achieved fill-in-the-blank certification.

But competitors are also doing the work and offering the same things and hyping the same certifications. That’s a recipe for surviving, not thriving.

Do you know the secret for thriving as a company?

It’s the one thing. You know, the differentiator. Better yet, it’s the calling card. Even better, it’s the aura; the mystique. In corporate leader parlance, it’s the mindshare. The thing the market perceives and believes about the brand. The thing that renders everything else don’t mean shit.

Here’s the best part: once an organization has nailed this important part down, it can transform from surviving to thriving.

Getting there requires the company to make a strategic and intentional commitment to cultivate mindshare (read the differences between mindshare and marketing). But it does not mean a tactical metamorphosis. Ironically, a company’s activities will still comprise much of the same work – such as launches, pitches, partnerships, and marketing communications – and promote a lot of the same things as before – product or service details and certifications – but all this will have been weaponized by the mindshare.

But beware: identifying the “one thing” to fuel mindshare isn’t easy.

In the final part of the exchange from the scene in the movie, Mitch asks, “That’s great but what’s the one thing?” to which Curly replies, “That’s what you gotta figure out.”

It’s typically bigger and loftier than its products and services (but the products and services enable it). And it’s not a tagline (but it informs the tagline and the company’s elevator pitch).

Need help? We’ve got a track record of helping organizations find their “one thing” and architect mindshare that clearly, repeatedly and memorably engages, resonates and – most importantly – drives action.