The following is an excerpt from Leadership Laboratory. A private group of 100 leaders from around the world who are building their leadership capacity and developing better teams & organizations. Curious? Head to HoldTheStandard.com to learn more now!
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| How do you sell 50 million records without any musical talent? That’s the hundred million dollar question one man was able to answer. No one could make Alice Cooper a better singer, but one man figured out how to have big success with little talent.
That man’s name was Shep Gordon.
The once young talent manager with no experience is now world-renowned, but at the time his only client, Alice Cooper, was both unsuccessful and untalented. The solution? Split the audience.
Gordon’s entire playbook for Alice Cooper was simple:
“We’re going to make every parent in America hate Alice Cooper.”
Surely, this wouldn’t improve record sales to the parents, but as soon as parents told their kids they can’t listen to Alice Cooper the rest would be history.
And, he was right.
Alice Cooper focused on lewd performative acts, controversy, and disgusting behavior that cemented himself as the most hated act in Rock & Roll by parents around the world. In the end, his seven platinum studio albums make a strong case for the power of splitting the audience.
BONUS CASE STUDY:
The late rapper, Nipsey Hussle, had similar success in declaring that his mixtape wasn’t for everyone. As you can imagine, the hip hop mix tape scene is noisy and crowded. The LA native stood out by making his mixtape $100. In theory, the absurd price divided the audience and as a result spread like wildfire. The uniquely popular sales figures of this mixtape sent him into hip-hop stardom and landed him a record deal. |
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Key Takeaways:
- Creating something for everyone is the fastest way to be unremarkable.
- Great art divides the audience. And, while you might not be an artist, your team, brand, or organization would be more remarkable if it planted a flag in the ground. While this gives some people a chance to hate you, it finally gives others a reason to love you. Refer to our conversation about World Building and choosing your adversary.
- Dividing the audience effectively requires self-awareness.
- Is your sales department understaffed? What if you were known as a relentless culture of grinders? It’s not for everybody. Does your agency lack industry talent? What if you stood alone for your impressive speed to shipping deliverables? Remember our conversation about how Oregon football decided what made their team uniquely competitive with a surprising key capability?
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TAKE ACTION:
- AUDIT. Where can your team plant a flag of differentiation? Most effective points of disruption come from a compensation for what you don’t have (just like Alice Cooper). DEUCE Gym aims to dominate the marketplace with coaching experience because we cannot compete on facility or amenities, for example.
- PRACTICE. Practicing this will come with losses. What will you lose by staking a claim that divides the audience? Can you mourn this loss now, so you can move forward with conviction?
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5/9/25 WOD
DEUCE Athletics GPP
Complete 4 rounds of the following:
5 Incline Bench Press
Complete 3 rounds for quality of:
15 banded chest flies (ea)
6 lateral roller push ups (ea)
6 weighted bench side bends (ea)
4 Rounds
In :90..
50 Double Unders
Max KB Push Press (53/35)
— rest 3:00 —
DEUCE Garage GPP
4-4-4-4
Bench Press
Test a Max Chin Over Bar Hold
Complete 3 rounds for quality:
6 Offset Push Up Pluses (ea)
6 KB Windmills (ea)
Then, run 1 mile for time
