The Value Gap

My youngest boy turned 5 yesterday!

It was 4am when I heard the first plea from our kids' bedroom yesterday:

"Da-aaaaad, can I open my presents now?"

For the next three hours, my wife Ellie and I tried to keep the house quiet for the sake of his sister and my visiting parents. But his refrain was constant.

Eventually, at 7am, we gathered in the lounge for the great ritual.

Do you remember the anticipation from your childhood birthdays?

The build-up over weeks, sometimes months?

The fingers crossed that you'll finally get the roller-skates or the Nintento 64 or the Sony Walkman? (Perhaps you're still waiting and hoping...!)

Well, my son surveyed his pile of birthday presents and innocently goes:

"Is that all?"

Is that all?

Is. That. ALL!!!

You ungrateful little...

But no, I had to hand it to him; it was the perfect example of what I've been obsessing about over the last three months in my work on value propositions.

The Value Gap in action

What is value? How do we quantify it? Who decides?

These are the issues I've been obsessing over, and I've found that value is about one critical question:

"What’s in it for me?"

I've just published my latest White Paper on this called The Value Proposition Playbook for Associations. (It's written with my association clients in mind, but it's relevant for you all.)

At the centre of the paper is something called The Value Gap - the difference between the potential value, the received value, and the perceived value of what we're working on.

When we're struggling to make an impact, it's typically because:

* There's a strategic gap - meaning we're not focused on where we can make the biggest difference

* There's an engagement gap - meaning we're not getting people interested and involved in what we're doing

* Or there's both!

The White Paper is written with associations in mind, but those gaps exist for all of us.

Closing them should be an imperative for leaders of all stripes and colours.

(As for my son, we eventually closed the value gap and he had a cracking good day! Here's hoping you can too.)

Enjoy,

Paul