To become more, I’ve decided to do less.
I know that may sound strange, but I’m convinced doing the opposite is far more deadly to growth. When I founded my company back in 2002, it was easy to chase every opportunity. There were so many, how could I not! I wanted to help leaders see the enormous potential for the web and the future of their business.
Small to medium sized businesses generally need a lot of help in this department. They don’t have internal digital teams, CMOs, or dedicated IT staff. They needed it all. So I did my best to help. But as the world became more digital, the challenge to be great at everything under that banner grew faster than my company.
I never wanted to try to support too many core competencies. It breaks down the power of our internal structure. It forces my team members to operate in silos. It slowed our growth as a company. And our clients didn’t benefit, either.
Our wide focus was killing me.
Being great is hard. It’s also a choice. Jim Collins points this out perfectly in his bestselling book Good to Great:
“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.”
So as you could see, while my intentions were good, I wanted to build something great.
After years of beating my head against the wall as a generalist, I’ve decided to take the plunge into the less crowded waters of the specialist. I can’t wait to do less for my clients. It’s become very clear that great companies surround themselves with greatness. They hire focused teams.
This week I announced the beginning of a new company — Second Form. We’re only going to focus on building digital products and services. That means we create software for the web. Not marketing, or advertising, or branding. Just websites and apps. We focus on the user experience. Not the ways and means to get there.
This clarity has changed how we work with our clients too.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, had the greatest explanation of focus I’ve heard. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Cook explained how difficult it is to edit yourself and only focus on where you’re able to provide the most value.
And when all of Apple’s products can fit on a small table, it’s telling how powerful it is to focus your efforts on what you can leverage the most.
So I’m ready to leverage our strengths. I’m committed to ask the tough questions of myself and my team. I’m determined to focus our energy only on the things we are great at. And I’m prepared to say no to the distractions.
This feels like the start of something special.
