In 1973, evolutionary biologist, Leigh Van Valen of the University of Chicago, devised the Red Queen Principle (also called the Red Queen Effect or Red Queen Hypothesis). This is based on the reflection from one of Lewis Carroll’s characters in Through the Looking Glass that “in this place it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place!”, The Red Queen is the character who runs hard but never gets anywhere.
With the competition in medical devices heating up, we have to run just to keep in place. To be able maintain our edge, we have to do more than the usual things. If we only do the usual things, we will only get the usual results. This is why:
- We are always thinking out of the box – trying to do things differently
- We are always willing to do the things that the competition is unwilling to do.
- We are constantly sharpening our skills and improving our knowledge about the specialties we are targeting
So, just after finishing a recertification last November, we headed off for yet another intensive course in Bali last month. The irony of the situation did not escape me. You fly thousands of kilometers to a popular resort destination, book into a hotel a few meters away from the beach. And then you are locked up in a conference room, given a difficult subject to learn, given two minute bio breaks and lunch (half) hours. Then they tell you – to focus.
For me, the discipline learned in trying to focus in spite of all the pleasures beckoning to you gets you on the road to differentiation. If you can get to focus on what really matters (in this case, the course!) then you have already embarked on a journey to continuously improving and eventually, differentiating yourself.
