Addition by subtraction. I hear this phrase quite a bit. Sometimes, it is a post-event reconciling, a way of justifying something we didn’t want to happen. Other times, it is indicative of a strategy. We are all doing too much. And, because of this, we don’t play to our strengths. We are not effective because we are doing too much, not too little.
For many years at my first company, we didn’t want to specialize. Focusing meant closing doors on opportunities. Not just vague opportunities that might surface, but real opportunities, with real dollar amounts, right in front of us. What self-respecting person would turn that down?
The Hedgehog Concept
In keeping this strategy, we grew a steady business that hit a certain revenue level and wouldn’t budge above it. Despite how hard we tried, the topline never moved. It wasn’t until listening to Jim Collins’ Good to Great, and hearing him describe his Hedgehog Concept that the concept of focus ever came to me. Yes, those who know me, will agree that focus is not something that comes naturally!
At its core, the Hedgehog concept suggests we should focus our energy on the intersection of three areas:
- Things we are deeply passionate about
- Areas where we can be the best in the world
- Activities that are profitable
It became clear that there were some areas of our business where we were talented and profitable, but that we were competing with some of the largest companies in the world. We had brilliant team members who had done incredible things, but so did all of our competitors. It was adding the “best in the world” spice to the mix that helped me understand the power of focus.
This focus also let us step out of the commoditized space and into a value-based pricing model that was beneficial to both our clients and us!
Naturally, I was listening to Good to Great while driving to a 10-day silent meditation retreat. For the next 10 days, I sat silently, I walked silently, I ate silently, and I might have even slept silently. I did my best to try to not think about this brilliant concept.
Opportunity hoarding weights us down
Still, it was hard not to. It became clear to me that by saying Yes to everything, we diffused our focus. We had less of an opportunity to make an impact for our customers. After my silent 10 days (extra hard this time), I rushed back to talk things over with my partner. He was thrilled with the idea. It was hard, but a year later, our revenue had nearly doubled.
Before this concept, we were essentially hoarders. We hoarded opportunities, and as a result weighed ourselves down. We couldn’t really provide deep value to our customers. For example, our teams couldn’t innovate as well because every project was different. Furthermore, our company had no real sense of purpose or mission. But, we were making money (and a little bit of profit). It was a scary thing to start saying, “No” to new opportunities that came in but that didn’t map to our Hedgehog Concept.
I felt like we were the person who fills their house with newspapers and magazines because one day they might need that November 2010 New Yorker. We didn’t want to turn down work because we needed the revenue. Yet, we couldn’t find the space to grow and innovate because we were surrounded by random projects.
We all need to find our No’s
To me, this gets to an even bigger point made by William Ury in The Power of a Positive No. It is hard to say “No” to opportunities, but every time we say “Yes,” we say “No” to a whole host of other things. I’m guessing that most of us clutter our lives in at least one important area. I was doing this at work because I didn’t have the willpower or focus to say “No.” This could be in any area of our lives: physical, spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social, etc.
Currently, I clutter my calendar. Before I know it, I have it packed with meetings and social events. This year, I have a goal to deliberately leave space open on my calendar at a daily, weekly, and monthly level. I’m doing it by focusing on the few key areas of my life that I’ve deemed most important. (Better believe there’s plenty of hedgehog thoughts going on in there). If the opportunity or event doesn’t fit, then I’m not doing it. I’m probably more curious than any of you to see how it goes. In some way, it feels pretty naïve. I’m sure I’ll end up with more than one non-hedgehog event on my calendar, but I’m not shooting for perfection, just directionality.
Thanks to Image by Andrew Martin for the shot of the telephone pole, Mr_SRC for the hedgehog, and The New Yorker for all of its amazing covers.