Corporations spend an enormous amount of time talking about their share of the market. Unfortunately, this does almost nothing to help them profitably grow their business. For example, if you owned a chain of retail shoe stores and said that you had the number one brand in the world in the "Boys Ages Nine to Twelve Category," how would that be useful to you? Other than possibly using it in your marketing to prospective boys ages nine to twelve, what does that information do to help you grow your business?

Seems to me that executives use market share numbers as a way to inspire their employees. Either the market share is lower than desired (which is almost always the case regardless of the percentage) and the executive explains the need to grow market share, or the market share is higher than expected in which case the executive compliments his or her employees. If you want to feel good about your results, then just define your market in a way that you come out number one every year. (Did you know that I have the number one brand in the world in the category of consultants born in 1962 who attended both Fenton University High School and the University of Notre Dame?) Or if you want to focus on endless opportunity, then define your market in such a way that you will never have more than 1%. (Take the retail shore store mentioned above and put them in the category of all retail stores in the world which sell food or non-food products.)

My question remains: what good does all of this focus on market share do for growing your business?

Rather than concentrating on some arbitrarily defined market, I suggest you focus on learning valuable lessons from the marketplace and then applying them in your business. Here are four steps for leveraging the lessons of the marketplace:

1. Seek Out Exemplars

   Look for the best of the best in any field. The exemplar does not have to be in your industry or a related industry. The person, group or organization simply needs to be the best at whatever they do. All you want at this point is a role model. As a matter of fact, you want dozens of role models. Just make sure that every one of them is world-class because you will become like the people you emulate. On my list of exemplars are two high school teachers, Tom Becvar and Emmett Hannick, a high school coach, Ebbie Dunn, a national champion college soccer coach, Jerry Yeagley, Jack Welch, Oprah Winfrey, Mike Krzyzewski, John Wooden, Martha Stewart, Sidney Poitier, Jimmy Stewart, Peter Drucker, my business mentor, Alan Weiss, the radio personality, Delila, Bob Costas, the owner of a Frozen Custard Stand, Ted Drewes, and many other famous and not-so-famous people. I also believe Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines and Acura provide terrific examples of different business models that are successful.

2. Identify Their Best Practice

   Once you identify an exemplar, ask this question, "What do they do that makes them so extraordinarily successful?" For every person on my list, I could name at least one extraordinary skill that they applied to generate tremendous results. Every one of the folks on my list has faults as well, and I could spend my time criticizing them. But what good would that do for me? I want to improve my own situation, not waste my time criticizing someone else. Go through your list one person, one group or one organization at a time, and ask yourself, "How did they generate such extraordinary results?" Make a list of all of the successful habits from these different people.

3. Determine If You Can Use It

   Now go through each habit and ask yourself, "If I were to develop this habit, could it help me to achieve my highest priority outcomes?" Or you could ask yourself, "If our group (or our organization) were to develop and apply this habit, would it help us achieve our highest priority outcomes?" If the answer is yes, then ask yourself, "How can I apply what the other person is doing in my business?" For example, Delila, Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart all have done a great job of building national brands by creating a synergy between their various products and services. Oprah has a television show, a magazine, a film production company and part ownership of a cable program. Each product reinforces the others. The same is true with Martha Stewart. Delila uses her radio show to promote her website and CDs which in turn lead people back to her radio show. Now, how can you apply these lessons to your advantage?

4. Do What You Can

   Once you've identified the successful habits from other people that apply to your situation, then move into action. Start now to leverage the lessons from the marketplace to your advantage.

If you study the whole market for exemplars, you will quickly identify great performers from a wide variety of industries. By filtering out the best habits that can be used in your business and actually using them, you will soon move to the head of the pack in your own industry.

As a professional speaker, Dan Coughlin speaks on RESULTS-FOCUSED LEADERSHIP, OUTCOME-BASED TEAMWORK, CUSTOMER-CENTERED MANAGEMENT, MASTERING THE THREE PHASES OF STRATEGIC PLANNING AND HOW TO BE AN INNOVATIVE EXECUTIVE.

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