I recently attended a conference with about 150 other client-side and agency marketers at which we had the pleasure of hearing from Scott Bedbury, who played a key role in the rise of both Nike and Starbucks, and Jeff Hayzlett, who is playing a key role in the resurrection of Kodak.

Despite having completely different styles, Bedbury and Hayzlett were both inspiring as they told tales and shared lessons about their experiences marketing iconic brands. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in feeling just a tad bit envious of what they had accomplished.

But it got me thinking. What, exactly, was the difference between the two guys who stood at the front of the room and the rest of us who sat in the audience?  My sense—and I have a feeling Bedbury and Hayzlett would agree—is that one key reason was that they were willing to be great.

I know that sounds odd—”willing” to be great, as opposed to “wanted” to be great. But I think “willing” captures it better. After all, everyone wants to be great, but few have the will to do what’s necessary to get there. Oh, sure, most professionals work hard and do their best and desire to succeed. But to be great—that takes more.

Becoming great requires not only the knowledge of how to do things, it requires the wisdom of knowing what truly needs to be done. It requires character to challenge unspoken rules and sacred cows, conviction to stick to your guns, and determination to not be dragged down by those who are content to stay in the audience. It requires the confidence of vision and a willingness to risk doing right—morally and ethically, to be sure, but also professionally.

Bedbury and Hayzlett both offered testimonials to the above, from Bedbury’s conviction not to waste money on copy testing to Hayzlett’s refusal to let “legal” shut an idea down. The thing that impacted me most, however, was not what they said, but where they stood: At the front of the room.

They were willing to be great. Am I? Are you?

Wal-Mart is a study in contrasts.

Its low prices are awesome. Its shopping experience, not so much. Its positioning is terrific, but its advertising leaves something to be desired. It serves well its paycheck-to-paycheck customers, but panders too much to the politically correct.

Wal-Mart has a rock-solid heritage in founder Sam Walton, but too often loses sight of what makes it special.  The latest example came in the form of an announcement last week that the company was cutting prices on some 10,000 items. With any other retailer that would be cause for celebration, but with Wal-Mart it’s just disappointing.

Wal-Mart = Low Prices. Period. Not margins. Not promotions. Not rollbacks. If prices are always as low as possible—as Wal-Mart has worked so hard for so long to convince us of—how then can they be cut, especially across such a wide swath of products? In one of its “rollback” TV commercials, “Mike the truck driver” says, “just by driving smarter routes and making sure our trailers are packed fuller, we save millions of dollars on fuel costs.” Does the world’s leanest company expect us to believe that it just figured that one out?

In an April 9 story about the price cuts, the Wall Street Journal’s Miguel Bustillo and Timothy W. Martin cited a J.P. Morgan analyst whose regular Wal-Mart price survey resulted in a bill 2.3% higher than it was in the previous month. That’s a pretty big jump. While it’s any company’s prerogative to raise or lower its prices, Bustillo and Martin wondered  “…whether Wal-Mart is committed to pushing the envelope on pricing as it did in the days of its late founder, Sam Walton, or is merely hyping promotions as it pursues a  more margin-driven approach…”.

Judging from what Wal-Mart CMO Stephen Quinn said of the cuts, it appears to be the latter: “We felt we needed to increase the intensity and excitement with our customer, especially the feeling that Wal-Mart has great deals.”

Yuck. “Great deals,” “hyping promotions” and “a more margin driven approach” are what you’d expect from Kroger or Macy’s, not Wal-Mart.  I don’t know about you, but I expect the “great deals” at Wal-Mart to be baked into its everyday low prices, not used as underpinnings of a grand promotion.

Like many companies trying to cope with slowing sales, Wal-Mart can be its own worst enemy. Instead of fiddling with margins and flirting with upscale customers, Wal-Mart should aggressively tout its all-the-time, every-day, low-low-lowest prices. Always. It’s the one company with the credibility to do so, and promotions like this threaten that very crediblity. Wal-Mart needs its customers to believe that it always—always—gives them the lowest prices it can.

That’s what made Wal-Mart Wal-Mart. It shouldn’t mess with success.

I’m talking about the iPad. But not in the way you think.

Yes, from what I’m hearing it’s a remarkable innovation (I ordered the 3G version, so I won’t get my own grubby hands on one until later this month). And yes, with Apple products remarkable is expected. But this observation isn’t about the device, it’s about a matter-of-fact comment made by a gentleman named Derek Hoffman in a USA Today article about the iPad.

“I’m holding out for the next version so Apple can work out all the problems,” Hoffman said. “The second generation model will be faster, better and cheaper.”

Most people who read that probably won’t think twice about it. We all know it’s true. But that’s what’s so remarkable. We all know it’s true.The next generation iPad (and all of the next generation e-readers, laptops, cell phones, etc.) will be faster, better and cheaper. That’s the glory of the free market, the blessing of the invisible hand and the fruit of an economic system that fosters competition, rewards innovation, and lets the individual decisions made by millions of individuals guide the evolution of industries to better meet their needs. We’re all better off for it.

Reading Hoffman’s quip, I couldn’t help but be reminded of our national healthcare debate. Market forces have been so good to us when it comes to consumer electronics and every other product and service category; they would be good to us in healthcare as well, if we took off the regulatory and tax policy shackles that have woven their way in, around and through the industry over the past several decades. But we seem to be going the opposite way.

The marketplace is a giant ocean; its force is like water. It will find its own way, no matter how we attempt to divert or control it. The fact that we continue to try is, I suppose, expected. How remarkable things could be if we just let go.

Now that we’re well into 2010, how’s your company doing?

Are your objectives clear? Is your team operating like a well-oiled machine? Are you focusing on your core? Are you taking prudent risks?

If you aren’t sure about—or don’t like—the answers to the above questions, click here to take a confidential, anonymous, three-minute self-diagnosis. By answering twenty questions you’ll get a snapshot of how well your company is resisting the destructive internal dynamics I discuss in When Growth Stalls. And you can encourage other members of your team to take it to so you can compare results.

Spend a few minutes today reflecting on how your company is performing and, if necessary, make a minor course correction. It could make a major difference.

Dell’s small-and-medium-business division grew by ten percent in the fourth quarter. Its operating profit increased 17 percent. That’s good news, isn’t it?

Maybe not.