The Importance of Focus
The less you do, the better you do it. Become a specialist.
After hundreds of years in the industrial age, we’ve come to see a wide array of businesses operating under all kinds of business models. At the start of it, the idea was always; more. Expand into more industries, make more products, buy more businesses. After all it’s in our nature to want more, which is why focus is not only necessary in business but an achievement. For a while there, we strayed away from focus and quality and we paid the price but luckily, we’ve put the gear in reverse and we’ve begun a shift back to craftsmanship. The title of this article is The Importance of Focus, so why do I keep referencing quality? The two are interconnected. With focus, you are capable of honing your skill and resources into a very small line of products and you can become the best at creating them.
Is focus a size thing? Absolutely not. Companies as big as Apple and as small as Campanelli Store (the clothing shop across the street) are producing less and focusing more. The results are undeniable. What I’m trying to say here is that not only is focus important, it is perhaps more important now than ever before.
Consumers have changed. They’re not who they used to be. With the introduction of innovations like social media, e-commerce, premium products and enhanced marketing, customers expect more. Businesses have raised the bar and so has the consumer. Mediocre products are shovelled to the side now more than ever and premium ones are praised globally through social media.
When Apple was on the brink of collapse, going through CEO’s faster than I go through socks, they asked Steve Jobs to return as CEO. His first order of business was slashing over 350 products from their line and firing all but one marketing agency. In an industry that had become saturated with sub par machines, Jobs understood the importance focus. I don’t really have to tell you how that story ended do I?
The first question out of our mouths when looking at a product might always be “how much is it?” but we don’t mean it. We just don’t know what else to ask. What we really want to know is how good is this product? How much time was spent producing it? Does the company believe in it? We’re all just begging you to give us a better reason than “it’s cheap” to convince us to swipe that credit card. We always feel better when we’ve bought something from an expert rather than someone who’s sole focus was cost.
The way I’ve always looked at it is as a stranger who’s never seen the world of business. Would I look into the looking glass and see consumers and businesses focusing on the very best products they can produce or thousands of people carrying cheap “me too” products.
How would you want that stranger to view what you create?
