In the preface of “A Category of One,” Joe Calloway is quick to lay down the professional gauntlet for all of us who value the role and responsibility of leadership.

“Don’t strive to be a leader in your category. Create a different category and be the only one in it…Perhaps the most surprising lesson of all is that quite ordinary people who simply do what other people are not willing to do achieve extraordinary success.” (page ix)

“Your brand is who you are, what you promise, and your ability and willingness to keep that promise…Three rules that Category of One companies all follow are:

1. Know more about the customer (or your followers) than anyone else does.
2. Get closer to your customers (or followers) than anyone else does.
3. Emotionally connect with the customer (or follower) better than anyone
   else.” (page xii)
  
So, how do you stack up so far? Are you worried less about how everyone
else is leading and more about differentiating yourself by way of what you know about and how you connect with your employees and customers?
Are you willing to do again and again what others could (and should) be
doing to secure success in a competitive environment? If so, you are
on the right track.

In Chapter 1: We Just Decided to Go, Calloway challenges leaders again and again to look at what we are doing through a new and different lens.

“A vision without execution is just an hallucination…There are people out there, maybe even most of the people out there, who don’t aspire to greatness.” (pages 7 &

“Making the decision to go means that you start with an idea and do what’s necessary to make that idea a reality. This means that you have to lead with the belief and then follow with action.” (page 16)

“Once a gut level commitment to go is made, everything changes. If everything doesn’t change, then you probably haven’t made the commitment.
Category of One companies don’t tweak, adjust and tinker. They burn down assumptions and tear apart the way they’ve always done it. When you commit to becoming extraordinary, things may seem in chaos for a while. If you find your company is undertaking a calm, orderly, well organized transition with the hope of becoming extraordinary, chances are pretty good that you’re not making any transition at all.” (page 21)

Chapter 2: Success Means You Know What Used to Work, takes a different
approach to changing the way we look at ourselves as leaders.

“Past success can be, and usually is, the enemy of future success.”
(page 52)

“The biggest risk is to never take one. If you think change is scary, try not changing. Not changing is the scariest of all in a world of constant change.”  (page 57)

“Whatever you’ve done to get successful, it won’t be enough to keep you successful. You have to move on to the next thing or be prepared to lose
ground. There’s very little maintaining of your position these days.  You’re either moving forward or backward.” (page 68)

“It’s been said that the most important decision an organization can make isn’t what to do, but who’s going to do it (leadership).” (page 70)

Okay, I don’t want to overwhelm you with voluminous excerpts from Phil’s
Notes (my personal answer to the Cliffs Notes I used so enthusiastically
during my collegiate years.) But I sincerely hope these choice snippets from A Category of One have you thinking about what it takes to go from being a good leader to being a great leader. Let me offer one final thought drawn from Chapter 9: The Heart of A Category of One Performer.

“I really believe that the leader of any organization must develop two very important and fundamental truths about that organization: What does it stand for, and where do you want to take it. You can call these things vision, values, ideologies — whatever, but you must have them. And most importantly, the two truths have to be simple enough for all to understand and embrace, and they have to be made clear to everyone in the organization over and over again until they are embedded as part of the corporate culture.” (pages 201-202)

Okay, that should be enough to get you thinking. If you would like a copy of “A Category of One” for yourself, go to Amazon.com and search for the title or for Joe Calloway.