<p style="text-align:center;"><em>The following excerpt is from a keynote presentation to FreshForward and examines how fresh food department differentiation strategies can stand apart. </em></p><p>By Leslie G. Sarasin, President and CEO, FMI</p><p>Within the works of the seventh-century B.C. Greek poet and thinker Archilochus wrote a provocative line that reads, </p><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/fox-and-hedgehog-image.tmb-large-350-.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=c0df6416_1" style="float:right;margin:10px;" class="-align-right" alt="Fox and hedgehog among autumn leaves in a forest" sf-size="100" /><p>“<em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing</em>.” </p><p>The meaning of the line has been debated through the centuries, but most have landed on the interpretation that the fox, for all his cunning and diversity of skills, is defeated by the hedgehog’s singular defense, which is to curl up in a spikey ball so tight you can’t tell his head from his tail. </p><p>But in his book <em>Good to Great</em>; <em>Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t</em>, management guru Jim Collins builds a much more comprehensive and expansive understanding of the hedgehog principle. For Collins, success in business is not about outfoxing the foxes in your life by a singular focus on playing defense; it’s about discovering your <strong>unique hedgehog truth</strong>, profoundly grasping what is your “one big thing.” </p><p>Collins offers some guidance about how you can find your “big thing.” He says it’s found in the intersection of your answer to three important questions: </p><ol><li>What are you deeply passionate about? </li><li>What can you be the best in the world at?</li><li>What best drives your economic or resource engine? </li></ol><p>Where your answers to those three questions overlap is your “one big thing”— your hedgehog truth. According to Collins, “When you get your Hedgehog Concept right, it has the quiet ping of truth, like a single, clear, perfectly struck note hanging in the air in the hushed silence of a full auditorium at the end of a quiet movement of a Mozart piano concerto. There is no need to say much of anything; the quiet truth speaks for itself.”</p><p>Good companies are those that do what they are good at—that’s what makes them good. But great companies stay focused on what they can potentially be great at doing, and that requires them to be clear, realistic, and focused on what that is. </p><p>I bring all this hedgehog talk up because, as you can see in <em><a href="https://www.fmi.org/forms/store/ProductFormPublic/the-state-fresh-foods-2025">The State of Fresh Foods 2025</a></em> report, fresh foods departments in food retail are in a really good place. But, as you read through the report, consider what it would take for us to elevate our game from good to great. </p><p>Now, if we’re brutally honest, we must acknowledge there is an inherent tension in looking at differentiation model data – if everyone is choosing the same differentiation strategy, are you truly distinguishing yourself? This, of course, necessitates a dive into the details of what exactly it will take for your company’s fresh departments to be a successful differentiator. Is it in assortment? Is it in price? Is it in quality? What about in customer service? Or is it in some more esoteric way? </p><p>If all are seeking to distinguish themselves with their fresh food departments, how specifically can you set your fresh food department apart from the rest? I would suggest to you that this consideration is where delineating your particular hedgehog truth might be especially helpful, equipping you to not only see what makes you good, but also to recognize the thing that could elevate you to being great. </p><p>To help you get started, I urge you to download <em><a href="https://www.fmi.org/forms/store/ProductFormPublic/the-state-fresh-foods-2025">The State of Fresh Foods 2025</a></em> report, for it holds insight only hedgehogs dare to know.</p><p><a href="https://www.fmi.org/forms/store/ProductFormPublic/the-state-fresh-foods-2025" class="button">The State of Fresh Foods 2025</a> </p>
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