You’ve probably heard that expression before. We’re coming up on the 20 year mark for our company and I remember the day I chose the name Distinction.
It was 1998 and I had some business filings that needed to be done for my new LLC and they wanted a name. To be honest, I hadn’t thought much about it. So I did what any expectant parent does – I went fishing for some quick ideas.
I started by typing the word “different” in MS Word.
You see, I had been in the presentation business for about 10 years at the time and the one thing that seemed pretty obvious, most presenters were painfully average in their skills. Seldom great. Not always horrible. Just painfully, blissfully average. But even back then, I had seen mediocrity put a nail in the coffin of many good ideas yet most presenters seemed content with just giving a presentation.
Then I selected the Thesaurus option from the word “different” and got “unique”… then “special” and “distinctive”. Then it happened…
That was it.
The one thing presenters of every kind can’t afford not to aspire to if they expected their important plans, unique ideas and critical information to get through to the busy and distracted people in their lives.
I remember when Amy joined the business back in 2012, I think she had a few moments (she kindly did not verbalize) where she wondered, what the heck is with the name? But over the years, she got it. She got it because even in her young Millennial life, she’s seen the very same thing I saw 20 years earlier.
We all know it now… it’s not simply enough to be average today… even a little good at presenting. For us and our messages to stand out from the sea of other voices, we need to be truly different. Different in how we shape our messages. Different in the clarity and quality of our visuals. Different in our confidence and ability to engage others as we stand in front of a room.
That’s precisely what we do for our clients. Aspire to more.