Do you play by the rules of your industry?

Yes, every industry seemingly has a "here's how we do this" mentality. But sticking to the way others do it can be a dead end - and doing it differently and better can be a big opportunity.

General Motors and the other Detroit automakers set and played by the rules of automobile manufacturing - and that worked, until Toyota and other foreign automakers broke the rules of planned obsolescence and minimal quality and stole big market share.

Others have not played by the rules and found great success: Uber did not play by the taxicab rules. Southwest did not play by the airline rules. Amazon did not play by the retailing rules.

My question: Is playing by the rules working for you? Maybe you need to think about how you can change the rules and outflank, outsmart and outplay the others in your industry.

Remember, smart strategy wins!