Standing Out in a Sea of Beauty

By John Suzuki, VP Sales

It's tulip season in the northwest! We took the one hour drive north of Seattle last weekend and found blazing fields of tulips, all in their countless rows of brilliant colors: reds, yellows, pinks, oranges, purples and more. It was yet another reminder of the beauty we are all blessed with.

  

As we walked the rows of uniform beauty, I came across a beautiful red tulip, exactly the same color as thousands of other red tulips. But this one was different: It was a red tulip in a field of thousands of yellows. There it stood, alone and seemingly lonely. But as I looked at this tulip I realized that it had found a way to differentiate itself in acres of equality. And while the yellows seemed to overwhelm it with their spectacular beauty, that little red flower stood tall and straight, and I imagined its flower pride in being different.

As businesspeople looking for that special something way to stand out among a sea of competitors, it occurred to me that a lesson could be learned from this little red tulip: It's not always necessarily a matter of really being different. After all, there were thousands of other red tulips. In this case, it was a matter of being different at the right time, right place, with the right "service." This little red tulip really stood out. I love tulips.