Focus is scary—until you realize that it only means turning your back on markets you could never have anyway. Sharp focus on jobs that customers are trying to get done holds the promise of greatly improving the odds of success in new-product development.
Interpretation
Focus helps eliminate distractions and increases the chances of success in product development.
This quote emphasizes the importance of focus in product development. By concentrating on the specific needs of customers and overlooking the myriad of other possibilities, businesses can greatly enhance their chances of success in creating products that fulfill real demands. Thus, it suggests that real clarity comes from prioritizing the right tasks and ignoring all others that do not align with customer needs.
In practice
In a business presentation about product strategy, this quote can serve as a reminder to keep the team's efforts aligned with customer demand.
You can talk all you want about having a clear purpose and strategy for your life, but ultimately this means nothing if you are not investing the resources you have in a way that is consistent with your strategy. In the end, a strategy is nothing but good intentions unless it's effectively implemented.
...it's easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time.
Disruptive innovations create jobs, efficiency innovations destroy them.
Don't worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people.
Whenever we have thanked these men and women for what they have done for us, without exception they have expressed gratitude for having the chance to help - because they grew as they served.
Intimate, loving, and enduring relationships with our family and close friends will be among the sources of the deepest joy in our lives.
I learned in my Ph.D. the discipline I needed to be successful. Most boxers are not that disciplined. They have talent, but the self-organization - the ability to schedule yourself and your priorities - is lacking. My studies were about the control of training on both the psychological and the physical side.
The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret of outward success.
I've always said to everyone that ever worked for me, if you get too dug in on a position, the facts change, and you don't change to adapt to the facts, you will never be successful.
Glory is a heavy burden, a murdering poison, and to bear it is an art. And to have that art is rare.
If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, ''Here comes number seventy-one!''
Focus on the impact you make versus the title you have.
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