If you’ve seen Happy Gilmore you understand the notion of someone who is skilled at one thing transferring those skills to something else. In the film’s case, Happy’s ability to smash a slap shot was a perfect antecedent to his long drive skills in golf. As an aside, it’s not all fictitious: I”ve played golf with many hockey players from the NHL level on down and almost without exception they play golf quite well.
Image via Wikipedia
This got me thinking about if the same is true in business – someone who is successful in one industry can transfer those skills to another. Here’s my thinking and I’d like to get yours:
My thinking is that I’m not so sure. While I believe that certain skills such as intelligence, creativity, ethics, and work habits are universal, I also believe that there are business practices and understandings specific to particular industries that make the wholesale transfer of one’s pervious experience pretty difficult. The idea that a person who spent the last five years at a company selling shoes could be doing great work for a sports league in a short period of time, for example, is wrong. The customers are different, the channels are different, the reasons and frequency for purchase are different – it’s a long list. If you’re going to market a brand effectively, you need to understand the customer and speak to that customer in a voice that resonates. If you don’t know the industry, you don’t know your customers. And if you don’t know your customers, you’re going to have a hard time speaking to them effectively and credibly.
While strategic skills are applicable across a wide variety of businesses (what I do is a good example of that), those skills are not all that’s required for marketing success. Understanding the industry’s quirks, the customer, and how they relate to indicate best practices is crucial. Otherwise, rather than a hockey player using a great slap shot to drive golf balls, you’re more like a golfer trying to hit balls while on ice skates.
Thoughts?
Consult Keith 