Turn Disadvantage into Advantage – What is the Advantage of my Disadvantage? Corporate or Personal Disadvantages as Advantages
Judit Kollesch
With a Network of Executives grown over the past 20+ years, offering solutions to your Company as a Partner at Ward Howell International, the 2nd oldest Executive Search Company of the world (est. 1951)
Turn Disadvantage into Advantage – What is the Advantage of my Disadvantage? Corporate Disadvantages as Advantages. Personal Disadvantages as Advantages in a Business Context. A Set of Examples, Food for Thoughts
In the current era of insecurity, economical and political turbulences I felt the importance to share my thoughts on the worth of chances and how they should be perceived. My aim is not to rediscuss business tools such like the SWOT, SOAR, PESTLE, NOISE analysis or Porter’s Five Forces, TOWS Matrix etc. but more reminding you how to enter the first steps on a solution-oriented path and showing you an alternate way of building or rebuilding business by selected examples.
Such like luck and unluck, advantage and disadvantage can be seen as a perception and interpretation. The question is how can you perceive a disadvantage as an advantage - or how can you turn disadvantage into advantage – or what is the advantage of your disadvantage?
First of all the situation should be neutrally descriped and it should be defined which aspects of the situation are associated with negative and which with positive attributions. The positive attributions offer chances. The goal is to focus on the positive attributions and create an Only-Opportunity-Focused vision.
You don’t have to ride a dead horse
Get rid of the dead horse. Let the status quo, the efforts and options go that do not work anymore in the situation altered. You don’t have to ride a dead horse. You can see this as a chance to ride a new horse.
My aim is to guide you by some examples described below how to think and act in a different way.
Corporate Disadvantages as Advantages
Has your company, your business suffered in a legal, financial or media related issue?
Consider all options of Refinancing, Buyouts, Carveouts, Mergers, Acquisitions, Partnerships, Selling, Insolvency for a restart. Rebrand if necessary. Focus on solutions by innovation and employees’ engagement first instead of focusing on desperately seeking fresh capital.
In the 1950s Elvis Presley’s Manager, Col. Tom Parker, sold “I Hate Elvis” badges as a way to make money from people who weren’t buying Elvis merchandise and generated additional revenue. Successful strategy is the set of choices that positions you to win.
Consult experts. Build an inhouse team of experts for the new task. Team up with external experts. Collaborate. Enter into a strategic relationship that brings advantages both to you and the others.
If you want to learn or get to know something new, talk to people who have been in a similar situation and succeeded several times. Or failed.
Negative Experience. Has something led to business failure? Do you have the feeling that you or your business has been treated unfair? Be thankful for the experience and for the story.
Learn from the experience. Build a whole new business or product on your negative experiences: PR, coaching, media, legal, financial advising, counseling, debt collection, background infrastructure for a special product etc. Start a new business, set up a new company. Modify a product. Create a new product. Let a new product develop. Let a new product design and keep or sell the license.
Make a case study of your experience. Integrate it into your business storytelling. Talk to people who have been in similar situations and succeeded several times – or failed.
Sell your experience. Share your experience. Educate, support others. People will appreciate your experience, your authenticity, your network, your modified product, your new product. Team up with other people or collaborate with other companies.
Publicity is publicity. Negative publicity is publicity, too. Use the momentum. Hire a litigation PR team to spread good news or to reestablish your reputation. They might have good ideas for a new brand, for new product launches or marketing campaigns for your company, too.
Excess length or overengineering: Does the business process last too long? What is the advantage of the excess length for you? Can you use the time for other projects, businesses, strategic decisions, restructuring? Do you have the opportunity to monetarize it such like for a product replacement, renegotiations, in law for example for complaint of delay or for a law suit for failure to act (Verzögerungsrüge or Untätigkeitsklage)? Can you negotiate a compensation, indemnity? In personal situations: can use the time for a personal brake, a timeout?
Personal Disadvantages as Advantages in a Business Context
Personality, appearance
Are you underestimated? Why does it happen? Find out the reason. Because of your personal appearance, dialect, small height, kindness, empathy? Does it happen often? Can you use this for your advantage? How can you use the underestimation? Surprise. Use the unexpected for your advantage. Exceed, overperform.
Are you overrated? Does the Employer, Client, Customer, Mandate raise expectations too high so you develop the feeling that they might feel disappointed? Use this feeling as fuel: fill the gap and educate yourself and your team, learn, collect experience in the meantime until the project or employment or new venture starts and meet or even exceed the high expectations.
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Gender specifics
Do you experience gender specific disadvantages in business?
Help people to understand the employee group. Offer solutions. Real solutions. Such like the Startup Peaches Benefits / Peaches founded by Julia Neuen does. The HR award winning German startup offers a unique range of employee benefits: Female Health & Family Building Benefits, not only for women but for all employee groups struggling with uniting family & work such like parenting, childcare, taking care of erlderly parents, taking care of children with special needs etc. Peaches is also offering consulting for Female Lifecycle Management, Strategy Development around Female Retention, Female Leadership and Female Recruiting.
Special needs, specific disability
Do you have a specific disability? Compensate.
My father in law has a special form of Dysgraphia, a writing deficiency. Dysgraphia did not hold him back from becoming a Managing Director of a company. His reading deficiency was compensated by developing alternate ways to communicate. He has developed a great sense of empathy and an outstanding set of verbal communication skills over time. He knows how to win other people for himself, for his purpose.
Furthermore, I have examples of candidates who excel in Finance, Strategy and Analytics but feel highly uncomfortable with verbal communication and social interaction. You don’t have to be everything. Find the place, the role where you fit in.
Do you have a specific disability? Recognize the chances – the niche. Special needs, specific disabilities, disadvantages based on special needs always create a niche.
Can you advise the specific market for its customers? Or team up with others to start a business in it? Inspire, motivate and involve investors? Serving a market for people with special need means not only a business opportunity but also means support for many many people. You can help.
Examples and market niches: adaptive fashion, medical equipment and supportive goods, services, services and products for children, the elderly, the disabled, for people with pets etc.
Research shows that people with disabilities represent 24% of the population. However, this group is totally underrepresented as a potential customer in many businesses, market segments and products groups. For example Adaptive Fashion, offering clothing for people with disabilities such like short stature, seated (in a wheelchair) and ambulatory.
Brands and companies are Unhidden founded by Victoria Jenkins , UK or IZ Adaptive by Izzy Camilleri , Canada or Kinetic Balance by Gerhard van Geest , the Netherlands.
The principle “Turn Disadvantage into Advantage – what is the Advantage of my Disadvantage?” is not a magic tool. It won’t solve all of your business challenges but will definitely improve your business performance – in most cases even help other people. Good luck!
© Judit Kollesch, Partner, Ward Howell International, Duesseldorf Office, Germany, Phone: +49 151 52 630 472, Email: judit.kollesch@ward-howell.com Published @LinkedIn, November 29th, 2024
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