The Only Statement
A powerful tool to help you and your team hone in on your organization’s differentiators
We want to share with you one of our favorite tools: The Only Statement.
Deceptively simple, The Only Statement is an exercise we borrowed from Marty Neumeier’s “Zag.” We use it to help boil down what makes a company or product different — and it’s not so much about the final statement as it is about the discussions that the exercise generates.
How are you different?
This is a question that most people need a few minutes to answer about their product or brand. As we all know, you rarely get a few minutes to explain your difference to your audience. But the problem is deeper than this. As Einstein said: “If you can’t explain it simply, then you don’t understand it well enough.”
You’ll find this exercise can take a team an hour or two at best, days for most, and weeks for many. Collaboratively working through The Only Statement helps teams have challenging conversations about the important differences, big or small, that sets their brand apart.
You’ll also find the clarity incredibly refreshing and you’ll unlock a new ability to generate ideas around how to best showcase your difference, now that the hard work of explaining simply is done.
Take a look at a few examples our team completed below. A link to a downloadable Only Statement template is available below for your use.
