Distinguish Your Business DNA through Leadership.

October 1, 2024
by Chris Swanepoel

Distinguishing the unique DNA of your business is essential to stand out in the marketplace…for the right reasons! Leaders need to take the time to pause and think about the unique DNA of their business and the leadership role required to help it stand out from the ‘troop’ of same-same businesses out there.

Chimpanzees and Humans – The Same or Different?

I read an old TIME Magazine article¹ a few years ago where scientists confirm that humans share about 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees! Surprised? I was. In fact, the DNA of chimpanzees is closer to humans than a rat is to a mouse. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) forms the building blocks of genes which are the things that give your body instructions—much like a blueprint—for everything it needs to grow, develop, and live². A chimpanzee’s blueprint is about 98% the same as yours!

How do we then explain the great void in capability and character between chimpanzees and humans? Why can humans develop and appreciate things like art, philosophy, music, language, agriculture, technology…and a chimpanzee cannot? Why does a chimpanzee in a business suit look so ridiculous if our DNA is essentially the same?

The Essential Difference

It turns out, that, according to the scientists, the essential differences between chimpanzees and humans reside at a qualitative rather than a quantitative level. The difference then is not in the actual number or nature of the building blocks (quantity), but rather in how the building blocks are arranged (quality). It is a bit like comparing the blueprints between a home in the suburbs and the Leonardo Building in Sandton. Both use cement, steel and glass, but the qualitative difference in how the building blocks are arranged is plain for all to see.

No alt text provided for this image — Leonardo Building, Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa

The DNA of Your Business

This made me think of all the ‘same-same’ businesses out in the market. They all have staff, management, products, markets, processes, systems, methods for delivery, etc. Their building blocks are all essentially the same. Sure, one business may be bigger or stronger or faster than another – much in the same way that one chimpanzee is bigger, stronger or faster than the next.

I questioned whether there is also a qualitative difference that separates one business from the rest, even when they operate in the same industry and deliver similar products and/or services?

The answer is obviously ‘yes’ – there is a unique set of attributes that constitutes the nature of any business and make it fundamentally different compared to the rest. We can call these attributes ‘business DNA’. We have all personally experienced the difference that business DNA makes. These differences become the reasons why:

We choose one school over another even though the curriculum is the same
We shop at one store and not another even though their goods and pricing are similar
We watch BBC and not CNN – or the other way around – even though they report on the same news.
We support one sport team over another…

The list could go on and on. The DNA of a business creates a qualitative impression that leads to us choosing their products over others, even when pricing, content and service is similar. The difference seems to lie in ‘who’ they are – their nature, rather than in ‘what’ they do. I am not suggesting that what an enterprise does is not important – it is. However, when ‘what you do’ is equal, it is business DNA that makes the difference. And it is leaders who must distinguish and build this DNA.

This leads to some crucial questions that every leader needs to answer concerning the DNA of their business / department / team:

What is our DNA? Who are we?
When people interact with my business / department / team, what impression do they come away with?
In what qualitative way does the DNA of my business / department / team separate it from others doing similar things?

3 Key Attributes that make up the DNA of Your Business

The DNA of your business is what separates it from the troop of ‘same-same’ businesses out there.

Understanding, clarifying, communicating and entrenching this difference is a key leadership practice that all leaders must engage in regardless of level. The three key attributes which combine to give your business its unique DNA are discussed below.

1. Differentiators (What are the unique features that set your business apart?)

Differentiators are the distinctive features of your product and/or service offering that make your business unique. These distinctive features can be leveraged to provide advantages that others will find difficult to imitate. When your differentiators are clear and well communicated, they help keep everyone focused on the areas where your value-add is unique and where you can leverage competitive advantages that no-one else can. This creates a qualitative difference between your business and others.

2. Guiding Principles and Values (What are the things that control and drive behaviour?)

Guiding principles and values make up the compass that will guide behaviour in all circumstances, irrespective of changes to goals, plans, personnel, etc. They create a deep understanding of the things that always remain important. When properly entrenched, they govern behaviour no matter what the situation or who is involved. When your guiding principles and values becomes a part of ‘who you are’ as a business, they form a qualitative difference that is impossible for others to imitate.

3. Core Competencies. (The things your business is, or should be, very good at)

Core Competencies are the few things that your business is, or should be very good at, in order to succeed / gain competitive advantage / deliver superior value. These may be competencies your business already possesses at the desired level or they may be competencies that still need to be built. Not all your business competencies are ‘core’ – it is important to identify the few competencies that are most critical to your success.

Once identified, your core competencies will suggest a number of personal and process competencies that need to be retained or built in order to adequately support the business core competencies. Again, when properly entrenched, core competencies are very difficult for others to imitate and they form a qualitative difference between your business and the rest.

A helpful way of thinking about these three attributes is to imagine what others should experience when they engage with your business:

What should people experience from your product and/or service offering that sets you apart from other businesses (differentiators)?
What should others notice about the way your staff conducts themselves in a range of situations (guiding principles and values)?
What should people say that you are really good at (core competencies)?

As a Leader, what should you do?

Spend time getting to grips with the three attributes listed above that help make up the DNA of your business and identify what you need them to be. This is difficult work and should not be short-changed.
Get buy-in and relentlessly communicate the DNA of your business to your team. Make sure they are operating in line with it. Make sure your DNA is understood and treated as a non-negotiable.
Formulate plans for building and entrenching your differentiators, guiding principles & values, and core competencies. Then, work the plan – DNA statements on a wall are useless until they have been entrenched into the fabric of the business. This requires discipline and attention to detail.

The benefits of doing this properly:

It helps you build the unique identity of your business: When taken together; differentiators, guiding principles & values, and core competencies combine to give your business an identity that others will find difficult to imitate.
It supports vision achievement: Your DNA should help inform and support your direction and vision.
It governs and directs behaviour: When properly entrenched, your DNA helps to govern and direct the behaviour of employees.
It assists to bridge the gap between current reality and your vision: Building your DNA helps you bridge the gap between what your enterprise is like now and what you want it to be like in the future.

Conclusion

The goal of building your business DNA is to ensure that when stakeholders interact with your business, at any level, they should come away with a sense that they have just dealt with an entity that is qualitatively different. Something better than the rest. Something more than a ‘same-same’ business. They should be able to smell, touch, taste, hear and feel this difference. They should acknowledge that your business is of a higher order than the rest – even compared to those that do similar things.

When others try and imitate you they should end up looking like a chimpanzee in a business suit…simply ridiculous!

*‘Clarify DNA’ is one of the topics that forms part of the key leadership practice ‘Provide Meaning and Vision’. There are 18 key leadership practices within the Five Arenas Leadership Framework.