Throwback Thursday III (from 20 December 2012): Win More With Less

One thing that has really stood out for me this year is how much people are getting “lost in the unnecessary”. Established companies try to cover as many bases as they can out of fear of getting overtaken by smaller businesses that claim to be more “agile”. More data means thicker and more complex reports that are less inspiring to read. People are sharing more online but not in proportion to the amount of new ideas we should be creating.

Steve Jobs once said that “deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do”. He would ask his top 100 people for 10 things they needed to do and then once the list was made tell them they could only do 3.

A.G. Lafley once told me “the important thing about a change programme is knowing what not to change”. Deciding what to eliminate not only helps you focus on what’s important, it also forces you to create a better product. Jeff Bezos has done it by working to “eliminate all the gatekeepers” that has been a barrier between consumers and suppliers.

Focusing on the important, not the urgent, will ensure that you do things right. And if you fail, you’ll be able to fix it faster too.

KR