You’ve got a strong vision for your company. A great team. Solid processes. Terrific momentum. In fact, you’ve made it! All you worked and sweated for as a business leader has come to fruition. Your dream company is on display for all to see.
If this is where you are today, I offer you my heartiest congratulations. But, without being a killjoy, I want to whisper a small word of caution in your ear: you got where you are today because you devoted yourself ruthlessly to your business’s Core Focus™, as it is called in the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®). You identified what you wanted to do and be and you stuck to that with single-minded commitment. As you ride the wave of success, you will experience the temptation to move outside the boundaries of your Core Focus. If you succumb to that temptation, you will lose your hard-won momentum, fragment your resources, and drain your collective energy. Don’t do it. Stay dedicated to your Core Focus – now, more than ever.
You don’t have to look far for examples of companies that have lost their focus. For instance, I know of a manufacturer that was an industry leader in a certain product area. They wanted to expand the scope of their business, but instead of adding new product lines that drew on their expertise, they stepped out of their Core Focus. They tried to add a service that required extensive software expertise – something they had no experience with. They tried for ten long years to get the new area of business off the ground before finally admitting defeat and shutting it down. That was ten years of time, ten years of expense, ten years of resources that were wasted. Worse than that, it was ten years during which the momentum of their core business suffered an inevitable slow down because energy was being diverted into a dead end.
Remaining true to your Core Focus does not mean that nothing changes in business. Far from it! As noted in the above example, the problem was not that the manufacturer wanted to expand the scope of the business. The problem was that they chose to expand in a way that took them outside of their Core Focus. Had they elected to develop a new product line within their Core Focus, they would likely have seen tremendous success.
There are many reasons you might be tempted to undertake initiatives that are outside your Core Focus. For example, you might be attracted by (or afraid of missing out on) a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity, such as a merger or acquisition … even though the result would dilute rather than intensify the Core Focus of your business. You might even feel a bit bored by the “same old, same old” products or services you sell and want to add something new and exciting to your company’s offerings.
There is no reason not to take advantage of great opportunities – IF they align with your Core Focus. There is no reason not to pursue new and exciting offerings – IF they fall within your Core Focus.
When you do identify an opportunity or offering that will support your Core Focus, be strategic in how you proceed. It is wise to avoid two extremes:
- Don’t jump in the deep end. Taking on a new initiative, launching a new product, breaking into a fresh market, etc. are significant endeavors. If you attempt to do too much too fast, you increase the likelihood of floundering and making costly mistakes. Proceeding systematically and growing steadily allows you to test the waters and apply learnings along the way so that you gain the strength and stamina to swim the distance.
- Don’t dabble in the shallows. Being too tentative is as problematic as being too impulsive. By failing to commit sufficient personnel, funding, and resources to a new initiative, you will not be able to adequately assess its long-term viability. A common error is to assign employees to an initiative, then repeatedly pull them back from working on it because of “other priorities.” This is like putting your toes in the pool and withdrawing them again and again. You can’t swim unless you commit yourself to getting in all the way.
Success is an ongoing choice. You are called on to choose what you will engage in and how you will engage in it. As a business leader, stay true to your Core Focus: this is your greatest strength and your reason for being. Then, when you choose to expand your products or services in line with your Core Focus, avoid the dual errors of jumping in the deep end or dabbling in the shallows. Instead, test your new initiatives fully, but on a small scale. Use your learnings to ramp up. As you do so, you will find your overall momentum as a company growing and your success will continue to build upon itself!
