Kevin Maney recently wrote a book entitled "Trade-Off". In his book he discusses the reasons why some things catch on and why other things fail. The basic premise of the book is that there is a trade-off between a high fidelity idea, service or product and a convenient idea, service or product. Very rarely can an idea, product or service be both and when they do try to be both most end up stuck in between in fierce competition with others. People are looking for either high convenience or high fidelity. Anything in between becomes a commodity and isn't really sought after by the marketplace.

 

For example, a U2 concert held in a stadium with pyrotechnics, laser light show, eardrum bursting loud music and tens of thousands of people in attendance is a high fidelity event or product but it is not really convenient. In contrast, a U2 CD has quite a bit less fidelity but is quite a bit more convenient, while downloading a digital version U2's "It's a Beautiful Day" from iTunes is even more convenient but has significantly less fidelity than the concert. Similarly, Neiman Marcus would be considered a high fidelity shopping experience but low convenience (due to high prices and limited products) while Wal-Mart would be low fidelity but high convenience (stores everywhere, all kinds of products and super low prices). If Neiman Marcus decided to open as many stores as Wal-Mart and began to sell a wide array of low cost products then they would become more convenient but would loose their fidelity. Each of these products or services attracts a certain type of consumer but he same consumer is typically not attracted to both.

 

Amazon recently come out with their ebook reader called the Kindle. When it first came out it could be argued that it was quite high fidelity and very convenient with hundreds of thousands of low cost books available with the touch of a few buttons. Recently, Apple has leapfrogged the Kindle in the high fidelity category with their new iPad product. However, this product is super high priced and doesn't have nearly the same number of books available which makes it low convenience. All Amazon has to do to continue to compete with the iPad is to drop the price of the Kindle and continue to create Kindle compatible books at better prices than Apple has for its iPad....thus making the Kindle a high convenience product.

 

So, what does this have to do with your Strength Zone....Quite a bit actually.

 

If you are willing to take a disciplined approach to your life, you can build a high fidelity career around your Strength Zone. All you need to do is to figure out what you can do better than most other people (i.e., your Strength Zone) and then leverage this in every opportunity possible and always grow in this area, making your Strength Zone stronger and your fidelity higher. The higher fidelity you are, the more demand there will be for your services and the higher the fee you will be able to charge.

 

However, once you begin to "slack off" and stop learning and growing in your Strength Zone, your fidelity will begin to drop, the demand for your services will fall and you will have to drop your fees to become more convenient and to continue to work. At this point you are in danger of being sucked into the abyss with the masses stuck between high fidelity and high convenience. Here the competition is fierce and the services provided are mediocre.

 

So, avoid getting stuck in the abyss with the mediocre masses. Instead, live and grow in your Strength Zone!