This reminds me of a true story I once read about the best car salesman in the country at the time. Single handedly he was selling more than some not-so-small entire dealerships. The difference was his incredible focus and approach to even the tiniest detail that could help a sale and willingness to try new things.
One thing that stands out in my memory about this was the fact the he made sure he always had 3 (!) pens for the customer to sign the sales agreements. Just in case 1 pen stopped working and the backup pen malfunctioned. He brought this sort of laser focus to absolutely every aspect of the business.
How many salesmen would have a spare pen, already in place, let alone 2 spares. How many would even have thought about it and what the right number might be?
Focus, attention to detail and continuous innovation.
Unfortunately, there's also a cargo-cult aspect to this kind of thing, when managers start saying: "Everyone is now required to have three pens at their station at all times."
I'm in a company where the suit-wearing side says "we need innovation" to the tech side, but they don't actually want a discussion about what they see as opportunities or directions. They just want to invoke it by rote ritual, or order it as if we kept some on shelves.
One thing that stands out in my memory about this was the fact the he made sure he always had 3 (!) pens for the customer to sign the sales agreements. Just in case 1 pen stopped working and the backup pen malfunctioned. He brought this sort of laser focus to absolutely every aspect of the business.
How many salesmen would have a spare pen, already in place, let alone 2 spares. How many would even have thought about it and what the right number might be?
Focus, attention to detail and continuous innovation.