The Real Power of OR

When people have a choice, most people prefer AND.

We want the new couch AND the large screen TV. We want the big house AND the cottage by the lake.

The same thing happens in business. In fact, it doesn’t take much to commit to multiple ANDs.

“We’ll provide the best quality product available AND extraordinary service AND have the most fun doing it AND make better than average profits.”

I suspect you can see the problem with AND. Sure it feels great (in principle) but it’s rarely realistic (in practice). In fact, adding even one AND is too many.

The better choice is OR.

For example, to create competitive advantage in your industry, which is more important:

• Having the best quality product OR delivering extraordinary service?
• Delivering extraordinary service OR having a fun work environment?
• Having a fun work environment OR producing better than average profits?
• Producing better than average profits OR having the best quality product?

Choosing between two (or more) values doesn’t mean you have to abandon the others. It’s about setting priorities.

The real power of OR is the fact it forces a strategic list of priorities.

It means your #1 priority is truly #1. Your #2 priority is truly #2. And so on.

It means when you need to make difficult decisions, trade-offs, sacrifices, or allocate limited resources, they’re made according to the right set of priorities.

TIP: When you embrace the power of OR early on, you’ll find the difficult choices of OR later become easier to make.