Not a Leader in Your Field?

Take a cue from Apple, Inc. and redefine the field

In August 2018, Apple Inc. became the world’s first publicly traded company to eclipse the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold (The Guardian).

After a slight market dip at the end of 2018 Apple, directed by CEO Tim Cook, has surged back up to the $1.3 trillion market capitalization point (Barron’s), and seems as if their growth will continue unchecked for some time.

So that means that Apple, Inc. is a leader in sales of their products around the world, right?

Not even close.

Apple is fourth in global sales of personal computers as of fiscal Q3 2019; third in sales of smartphones; and ranks fourth in sales of laptop computers worldwide. Hardly championship statistics (links here and below to supporting news articles, no affiliate links).

And while Apple does lead the market in sales of tablets, the international market for tablet sales is waning sharply. Being the sales leader of a product in its decline is hardly an accolade on which to bank the future.

So how does a company that trails almost all of its competitors in its major product markets post a company-record profit of $22.24 billion on sales of $91.82 billion for fiscal Q4 2019? Not to mention having increased its overall net worth by $725 billion over the last year as reported by the Wall Street Journal (2020)?

Apple isn’t a dominant leader in any product or service category, but they are exceptional at doing one thing: Being Apple, Inc.

No one else even comes close, and their financial success is the proof. We can all take a valuable lesson from Apple.

It is no accident that Apple changed its name from “Apple Computers” to Apple, Inc. in 2007. While Apple arguably had been successful at selling personal computers, their leadership recognized that being known for simply one thing eventually spells the end for most product-based companies.

Apple was able to leverage its creativity and innovation into products outside of personal and business computers; eventually also expanding into a services-based model that continues to pay dividends (literally) moving into the future.

So where is the lesson here, short of coming up with a set of products and services everybody wants? (Wouldn’t that be great?)

There is a lot of pressure, much of it self-imposed, to be the best. Humans are innately competitive and prone to numerous biases.

Sometimes these biases work in unison against us, and that is certainly the case for me. Several years ago, I was at a place in my life where I could not see much inherent value in my self-worth.

The potent combination of negativity bias (where we tend to see things as much worse than they are) combined with confirmation bias (everything we see and hear seems to confirm what we believe we know to be true) had me in a place of significant depression.

By most metrics, things were good for me. I had a great job, wonderful kids, activities to pursue, etc. But none of that seemed to matter.

My self-perception kept looking for the one thing that I was exceptional at doing that would set me apart as worthwhile. I did a lot of things, but I wasn’t the best at any of them. Not by a long shot.

You can probably imagine where that pushed me into a spiral from which escape was extremely difficult. It took an actual bad event — a true low — to allow me to have some perspective. I write a little bit about that here:

As I came out the other side of this tremendous low point, and after a bit of therapy and a significant mind shift, I began to truly see that I was exceptional at something: being me.

I am sure you can see the parallel now. I realized it was okay to not be the best firefighter on the force, nor the best snowboarder on the mountain, best parent, best soccer player or coach. No, really all I needed to concentrate on doing was being the best me.

That concept has helped me tremendously in the time since then. I accomplished some major milestones such as being promoted into a division chief role in my fire department then successive jumps up the ladder to becoming interim fire chief.

I finished an undergraduate degree, then loved that so much that I went on to get a graduate degree as well — most of which was done working full time in roles described above.

I completed a grueling eight-month mountaineering course which had me summiting three different peaks to graduate and performing activities I had never previously attempted.

Maybe most importantly, this new perception of myself provided me the confidence to step away from full time employment and tackle other pursuits, such as writing.

Never. At any time. Was I the best at doing any of those things. I didn’t have to be.

I did make my best effort; I was my best self. And now I have those set of experiences that makes me an even better version. See how it works?

Before I started writing on Medium I did a lot of reading of articles on the site. I was intimidated by the prospect of putting my writing out there, and I wanted to do it right.

One of the things I read was that a person should stick to one or two niche areas where one has expertise and limit writing to those.

While I have since read plenty that contradicts that advice, it proved to be a barrier to my entry onto the site for quite some time.

Once again, I was caught up in that concept of trying to figure out what I was best at; so, I could write about that.

Finally, after months of procrastinating, I had a story that simply just had to come out. I wasn’t sure it was going to be my niche, but it allowed me to jump in.

Hitting the publish button was all it took to get my thinking back in line. Nobody has my unique set of experiences or my personal perspective. I don’t have to limit myself to a niche, I just have to write about what is meaningful and poignant to me.

My definition of success isn’t necessarily the same as Apple’s. While making a few dollars certainly is helpful for the family finances, the bottom line isn’t my only measuring stick. I am learning a great deal about writing, editing, publishing and marketing. My writing gets better with each day. So does my self-confidence.

I also realize that I don’t need to be the best writer. If I want to realize my version of success, I just need to model myself after Apple and be really good at being me.

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Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. Now moving forward to writing and consulting. For more articles like this, join the mail list.