™Marketing Magazine Issue 13 | Page 8

PRIORITIZING

THE NEED FOR FOCUSED PRIORITIES IN BUSINESS

BY : ANDY BUYTING

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When it comes to being successful in business , focus is key . I ’ ve been a Certified Scaling Up Coach for 12 years now , and one thing Scaling Up does extremely well is teach businesses about focus . It ’ s one of the three disciplines of execution .
I recently watched an interview with Warren Buffet , and when asked his secret to success , he said it was focusing on what ’ s important . To keep himself focused and his priorities aligned , Warren writes down the hundred opportunities that are in front of him on a piece of paper . He then narrows that list to the top one to three priorities that will have the biggest impact . That ’ s what he focuses on . What he works hardest at , however , is ignoring the other 97 opportunities .
That ’ s a powerful statement , because we are all so tempted to experiment with every opportunity that presents itself . We think it ’ s just a minimal distraction and that it ’ s worth a small investment to see what ’ s there . Of course , there ’ s a place for that when you ’ re in the process of prioritizing , but once you ’ ve established what ’ s going to have the biggest impact , you need to focus on only those things and nothing else . If you don ’ t , you ’ re not going to be effective in advancing that impact .
I was doing a workshop once , and a gentleman in the audience , a baker , said to me , “ If you try and go after 10 priorities , you end up with nothing . Ten cakes half baked does not give you five cakes . Ten cakes half baked gives you nothing .” That concept is so important in business . You can ’ t succeed at everything , but if you prioritize the two best cakes you can make , you will succeed at something .
THE HEDGEHOG CONCEPT
One of my favorite authors , Jim Collins , is a researcher and one of the top business authors . He wrote Good to Great in which he talks about the hedgehog concept . The hedgehog only needs to be good at one thing to survive , and the same goes in business . If you focus only on the one or two things that you ’ re really good at , then you position yourself well for success .
There are three bubbles that you need to consider when developing your hedgehog concept , or the skill that you want to focus on . The first is that it needs to be something you ’ re passionate about . If you ’ re not passionate about it , then you ’ ll be
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