The biggest risk is blending in
A big swing that misses is rarely the real danger. Calvin Ross Carl on why the bigger threat is looking like everyone else by following best practices.
Summary
Calvin Ross Carl reminds teams afraid of bold choices that the biggest threat to most companies isn’t taking a big swing. Usually, if a big swing misses, it isn’t that huge of a deal, though sometimes it can be. The real threat is becoming indistinguishable from every other brand because everyone is operating off the same best practices.
Highlights
- A missed big swing is usually not a huge deal.
- The real threat is becoming indistinguishable.
- Shared best practices make brands look the same.
Key insights
Misses are survivable
Most bold moves that fail can be recovered from. Fear of the miss is usually bigger than the miss itself.
Sameness is the slow failure
When every brand follows the same best practices, they all end up looking alike, and none of them stand out.
Detailed analysis
This reframes risk for anyone weighing a bold creative choice. The downside of a big swing is visible and immediate, so it gets overweighted. The downside of blending in is gradual and harder to see, but it’s the one that leaves a brand with nothing that sets it apart.
Conclusion
Take the swing. Blending in is the risk that actually hurts most brands.
It’s also important to remember that the biggest threat to most companies isn’t taking a big swing. Usually, if you take a big swing and it misses, it’s not actually that huge of a deal. Maybe sometimes that big swing can be bad. But the biggest threat to most brands isn’t taking that big swing. The real big threat is becoming indistinguishable from all those other brands, because you’re all just operating off of best practices.