“The truth of the matter is, true differentiation – sustainable differentiation – is rarely a function of well-roundedness;” writes Harvard professor Youngme Moon, “it is typically a function of lopsidedness.”  (Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd). Youngme Moon illustrates this with stories about IKEA – a throwaway brand in a traditionally permanent industry, Dove – using pictures of average women in a traditionally photoshopped, airbrushed industry, and Google – creating a stripped down search interface in an industry cramming search pages with every button and pop-up imaginable. And while we all understand intuitively the answer to the question “Why do these brands work?,” it becomes much more difficult to answer this question about ourselves. 

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