It’s how you see.
- Joshua Watts
- Apr 7
- 2 min read
“I hate losing to competitors with worse products.”
I hear this a lot. And honestly? I get it. It’s frustrating. Maddening. It creates this intense urgency to fix the problem. to finally “show up right.” But… fix what, exactly? That’s where things usually get confusing.
Maybe it’s how you look.
Maybe it’s what you’re saying.
But more likely? It’s how you see.
Because here’s the thing most people miss :
You can only build what you can see. And if the way you see the world is narrow, vague, or borrowed from your competitors, you’ll keep building things that blend in — not stand out. Your perspective is the internal operating system behind your brand. It defines what you think matters, what you stand against, what your audience is really buying, and how you move through the market.
And this doesn’t just affect your marketing. It’s your messaging, your product experience, your sales calls, your hiring strategy. All of it. Let's take a page from the cult brand playbook and we’re unpacking the one thing they never leave home without:
Average brands sell products.
Strong brands sell meaning.
Cult brands? They sell perspective.
The best brands weaponise perspective because perspective gives you leverage. It sets the rules that both meaning and product have to play by.
Advantage 1: Perspective makes you sharper.
You stop being a product on the shelf and become a movement people want in on.
Advantage 2: Perspective makes you alluring.
It reframes your competitors, not as alternatives, but as players in an outdated game you’ve already moved beyond.
Advantage 3: Perspective aligns your team.
If you’ve ever been on a high-performing team, you know the feeling: shared perspective becomes shared instinct. You’re not making a million disconnected decisions—you’re making the same decision a million times, in perfect sync.
The cult brands? They don’t just sell stuff. They create a whole new way of seeing the world — and snap heads in their direction. So if you’re tired of losing to worse products… maybe it’s not your product that needs fixing. Maybe it’s time to change how you see — and lead your audience to do the same.
