Why are you so preoccupied with being “different”? You should instead bring to light your own uniqueness.

Perhaps this language first started to creep in immediately after World War II, with the rise of corporations (particularly in the West¹).

Take the following terms and expressions for example:

1. Tactics
2. Strategy
3. Capture Market Share
4. Optimisation
5. Target Customers

Since when did business become war? Such drivel. What’s worse is that recent grads, too, are adopting this terminology. They, sadly, don’t have the critical thinking skills to even inquire about their origins (you can thank the systems of (mis)education – or rather, schooling² – for that).

The insidious use of such terminology is destructive. It robs us of a life well lived.

Now to the main question.

So many times in conversation with business owners and young people, I hear this question being floated around – “what makes you different?”(i.e. your product/service).

Please, take a moment to reflect on this question. Such line of thinking, when framed in this way, is cancerous.

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I, frankly, could care less about being “different”. It’s surface-level thinking.

When asked in this manner, one’s reflection first begins outwardly before turning inward. Psychologically, it projects insecurities. It’s one of comparing oneself against others. It robs oneself from reflecting on one’s own uniqueness.

Rather, I prefer to ask – “what makes you unique?“.

When asked in this manner, one’s reflection first begins inwardly before turning outward. We are a culmination of our life’s story, our experiences, our joys, our pains, our ambitions, our psyches – human soul, mind, spirit.

If done honestly, beauty and authenticity will be restored – both for oneself and in society. And I hope, this, too, will move us away from adopting war-like thinking.

You are unique³.

So why not offer this uniqueness to the world?

1. You’d do well to reflect on alternatives, particularly from Asia. Asian business philosophies offer genuinely different starting points. See a comparison of West and East here. ↩︎
2. Ivan Illich had a lot of meaningful things to say about “schooling”. Learn more here. ↩︎
3. I am certainly not advocating for individualism or ego-centrism. ↩︎