If I ask a hundred people about the highest mountain in the World, how likely do you think it would be that a "sane" person in that group would answer something other than Mount Everest? Zero, would you tell me? Well, you would be wrong!
We have learned since our childhood that Everest, which rises to an altitude of 8.848 m, reigns as king and master over this majestic range that is the Himalayas. And we have no reason to question this "truth". However, it would be enough for there to be an apprentice geographer or topographer to cry scientific heresy! Using basic principles of land geomorphology, they would tell us that everything is relative, and that Everest is far from being the highest altitude landform on Earth. And they would be absolutely right!
Everest is the highest peak in the world from sea level. However, other mountains can claim the title of the highest mountain on Earth depending on the criteria used. For example, Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii is considered to be the highest mountain from its base (it rises 10.200 m above the ocean floor).
Also, from base to summit, Denali, located in Alaska, is also higher than Everest. Despite its altitude of 6.190 m, it rises above a plain 900 m above sea level, giving it a vertical elevation from its base of almost 6.000 m. By comparison, Everest rises "only" 4.500 m above the Tibetan plateau.
Even more impressive, the Chimborazo. Culminating at an altitude of 6.268 m in Ecuador at a little more than one degree of southern latitude, it is the most distant peak from the center of the Earth: it is 6.384 km away compared to 6.382 for Everest, a difference of 2.168 m due to the bulge of the Earth's sphere at the equator.
So if I asked my question in the following form: “What is the terrestrial summit closest to the Moon and the stars?”, your answer should be without hesitation: Chimborazo! Which makes it de facto the roof of the world!
But in all cases, learning is richer and much more stimulating when we position ourselves in a multi-criteria and therefore multi-perspective context. The same questioning, analyzed from different perspectives, leads to a completely different reality. In fact, to a trained eye, this approach opens the way to new opportunities.
And if the debate can become heated between researchers concerning scientific data (emanating from the exact sciences), the complexity goes up several notches when it comes to the social sciences, the complexity of human relationships and the volatility of our perceptions and prejudices.
My marketing question now:
“How many prejudices do we maintain about our markets, our products or services, our competitors, our customers, and our ability to serve them adequately, etc., without ever questioning them? Without ever (or almost ever) changing perspective in order to get to the bottom of the question?”
Many of us would answer that they do it on a regular basis and that they are on the right track given that their sales are doing well or that they are the leader in their market, etc. There is no doubt about it. The real question is not “whether things are going well” (effectiveness), but whether we “could do better” (efficiency). And there is nothing better than systematic questioning to achieve this excellence in both results and processes.
Competitive advantage is now obtained more easily by holding strategic information than by financial power. Holding information, constantly updating it and using it both strategically to better plan your activities, and operationally to distinguish yourself from your competitors – is the best weapon to protect yourself from the vagaries of uncertainty. If the best defense is attack, as they say in sports language, proactivity in marketing actions is the best way to achieve efficiency.
Adopt a customer perspective, be mindful of your employer brand, segment your markets, target your actions, move from a transactional perspective to a relational perspective, optimize your communication approach, use information technology for the benefit of marketing approach, etc., are all different criteria. And that’s a multi-criteria or multi-perspective approach. As long as you cultivate your desire to excel, to do things differently, to get out of your comfort zone, to involve all of the company's activities and to go against your own summit!
ostafa El Adraoui
March 2022