Measure what is measurable…

and make measurable what isn’t measurable.

That’s what MBA’s do. From there, costs and profits can be derived and optimized mathematically.

This doesn’t make an interesting business or service alone.

Tell a story where there is a story, and make a story where there is none. The Graduate Hotel, a successful and unique brand of hotels, creates an imaginary person with a back story for each of their hotels built. They then design and build a hotel that fits that story. The stories make sense in the context of the town currently being built in. There isn’t a way to account for this kind of effort on a spreadsheet that an MBA makes until after the work is done and the results start rolling in. That’s why it isn’t common.

The common is common because it is measurable and has a positive return-on-investment as a result it makes sense for everyone to do it, so everyone does.

The uncommon is uncommon because it is unquantifiable, and feels like a gamble.

The obvious takeaway is the everyone is looking for uncommon amounts of success by doing the common work. That doesn’t happen often, which means, pre-dominantly the unquantifiable work is where the amazing success happens. It is risky, but so is drowning in a sea of commons.

P.S. There is plenty of room in the world for MBA’s to apply their knowledge, but if they want to have uncommon success, sprinkling in as much creativity and story as possible is where the magic takes hold.