If you went
in to your local grocery store today, how much would you pay for a watermelon?
$5…….$10.? How about $60!
Now watermelons may not be a staple part of a diet, although they do count as
a fruit towards your 5 fruits and vegetables a day recommendation. But would you
really pay a 5 or even 10 times premium?
At an upmarket grocers in Toronto that's exactly what people are doing –
paying $60 for a square watermelon. The idea was first cultivated by a farmer in
Japan who planted seedless melons in a square container – apparently to help
maximise space in Japanese fridges!
Naturally the internet has helped to spread the mesage about these 'unique'
fruits to the point that Pusateri's in Toronto were able to sell out before even
putting them on the shelf – apparently customers were asking for them up to 3
years ago.
So what are you doing with your set of skills and talents that you do not
perceive as being any different from the other 'watermelons' in the marketplace?
What is the square container that you can put these skills inside to
ultimately take on new dimensions?
If you are in a career and looking for that next promotion internally,
perhaps people who are making that decision need to see your skills in a
different light. Take stock of the skills necessary for that next move and look
for an avenue to showcase them. Perhaps its leadership and ability to be
flexible so you take on a role in a new project that normally you might not get
involved in or look to head up a fund raising or community initiative that
raises your profile.
If its your own service business, what are your clients always saying about
you that you take for granted, but is not normally something that your
competitors would lay claim to?
For once perhaps think inside the box!