I’ve found that it’s hard to figure out whether to chart my own path or follow someone who went before.

This came to mind because I was recently teaching a class for people who are on their retirement path. The key question is: What do I want to do with the rest of my life? And the answer is different for each person.

So the class was all about deciding what your desired path is. Or however you describe your best life.

But this connects with the challenges we have in business as well, where it’s more common to be in an industry where there’s a “normal path” to success.

So when do you follow that path? It really comes down to where you want to be different and exceptional – to lead the pack.

An example would be if you’re in the restaurant business but want to be one of the few who have extraordinary motivation and retention of employees. That’s unusual in the industry.

If you’re doing what everyone else is doing – following the normal path – you’ll get a result that’s similar to what everyone else sees. You’ll have high employee turnover and low engagement. Clearly you need to chart your own path.

But you don’t have to completely make things up. In fact, there are other service industries where retention is high. Go find out what THEY are doing and what you might be able to leverage. Maybe one of those leaders could be a great mentor for you.

Many business owners don’t tend to look outside their own industry, then wonder why the competition is better at innovation.

Many of the answers are already out there, just not where you’re looking. And you might have to stitch the best answer together from pieces.