Category: General

An architect once designed a cluster of buildings. When asked by the landscape crew where to pave the sidewalks, he told them to plant grass between all the buildings, wait a year, then, after the occupants had worn the most useful paths, the architect told the landscape crew to pave the pathways that the occupants had created.*

The architect could have commanded the landscapers to pave a network of arbitrary paths promptly ignored by the occupants. Each of us goes the way that makes the most sense to go. The wear we leave walking through grass, shows others the path that worked for us. If that path works for enough people, it becomes the primary throughfare – and will be paved.

Working Pathways, LLC is focused on exposing the working pathways throughout our daily lives – from how we shop to how we work. By exposing the knowledge and experience gained by a single individual’s journey, everyone (companies, clients, customers) can benefit. That’s what we do. Sound interesting? drop us a line.

* Thanks to Storyblog for this tale.

The Work Better Weblog is back up and better than ever after a quick Holiday rebuild. Thanks to all the loyal readers for standing by during the past few days.

A couple years back, Wal-Mart decided to sell toys…cheap. Toys R Us knew they couldn’t compete on price, so they decided to compete on experience – thereby increasing their margin.

Experience is a more sustainable advantage than price, selection, or service. It’s much closer tied to your brand reputation than any of the other attributes. Starbucks’ Brand Experience allows it to sell custom CDs in-store. Disney’s Brand Experience allows them to put their name on everything from clothing to cruise ships. By articulating your identity outside of your current product or service offering, opportunities to create a holistic, margin-widening, experience for your customers will present themselves.