Rules
for the Next 12 Months: Stay Focused and Simplify
It's tempting now to want to rush back to whatever normal is. But trying to get too far ahead of today's reality can bite back.
BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS@TULLMAN
As we move toward a post-pandemic world, I've been suggesting
regularly that almost every business will be best served by an approach that
focuses on two critical ideas - the first of which is simplification. It's
imperative, especially now, that getting a few critical things really right and
delivering consistently and successfully on those crucial needs for everyone
will be far more important than trying to do too many things all at once. It's
not how much you do; it's how well you do what you do.
Resisting the temptation to get right back to firing on all
4-to-8 cylinders and trying to immediately do every last thing that you used to
do for your clients and customers is going to be a tough challenge, and one
that's essential to overcome. Your customers will understand (whether they
admit it or not), your team will appreciate your willingness to be just a
little reasonable, so they don't burn out a few weeks after they return, and
your products and services won't suffer a bit.
In fact, you and everyone else may discover that the new,
quicker, cleaner and more streamlined offerings make sense for all concerned.
We may finally be on the cusp of dumping glitz and wretched excess right along
with Trump and the Kardashians. A modest dose of simplicity and decency - a
little respect for all concerned - and attention to the everyday details rather
than attention for its own sake might rid us of the dirt and dreck we've all
had to wallow in for the last four years.
The second constraint, and another slightly counter-intuitive
idea when the whole world's in a hurry to get "back" to the new
normal, is to slow down. Look before you leap; take your time. This is not a
sprint. In fact, we hope for every business's sake that this is a marathon -
and it's clear that no one gets to heaven in one night. Under
uncertain circumstances, as all the great Marines will tell you, "slow is
smooth, and smooth is fast." We're all in a huge hurry to put this whole
political, social, medical and economic debacle behind us and to get a leader
who can safely and sanely help us get to the other side, but sheer speed isn't
helpful if you're on the wrong path
This is no time for moonshots and Hail Marys. Nor is
it a time for radical changes or reinvention. Frankly, it's not even clear that anyone can say with
certainty where we're headed and when we'll get there.
We're living right now through one of the most obvious examples
of how speed can kill. Restaurants across the country had been holding their
breath and bumbling along for months (a staggering number have already closed
for good) when they finally got the green light to start to safely reopen their
indoor dining and seating. This triggered a ton of new booth and table
construction, updated work and sanitation stations, HVAC enhancements and air
filters, and lots and lots of other essential and expensive upgrades.
Then the second wave hit. Hard. In my home state of Illinois,
Governor Pritzker changed his mind and abruptly shut everything down. The smart
guys who hurried to get to the head of the pack don't look like heroes or
wizards at the moment. And the prospect of additional assistance from any of
branch of government (city, state or federal) doesn't look too good. So,
there's no simple salvation around the corner. Half a loaf never looks that
attractive, but there are cooks, chefs and restaurant owners all over Chicago
regretting that they decided to run before they walked the first few steps on
the way back. Now the way back looks a lot harder and longer.
However, if you've been smart enough to focus on (1) doing a few
things really well and on (2) taking your time to get back up to speed, what
else do you need to do to help make sure that you're on the way back for good?
The simple answer is that you've got to slim down in another way. I call it
"divide and conquer".
How you do things matters. When you do them matters. But maybe
what you choose to do and what you don't do matters even more. Great
entrepreneurs are editors, above all, and figuring out what not to do saves
time and resources. Most importantly, it allows you to focus on the main chance
- what you're the best at - and what can become your sustainable competitive
advantage. The more of all the other stuff that you shuck and shed, the faster,
more agile, and more effective your business will become. If you can't do
something better, faster or cheaper than the next five guys, then let them do
it.
Hunker down now and do the hard work needed to set yourself
apart from the pack and differentiate your products and services. Your edge
could be along any of a number of dimensions - customer mix, technology, access
and availability, distribution and logistics, etc. The key is to
pick your horse and go for the gold. And here's a hint: there isn't
a company in the country that can't use a little pruning and slimming down.
Sometimes it's a process improvement, sometimes you've got too many "so
what" products in your mix, and sometimes, sadly, there are gonna be
excess people that are the problem. But no one who does an honest search,
analysis and inventory ever comes up empty-handed.
So, sit yourself down, divide your business into its constituent
parts, dump the things that don't make a real qualitative and quantitative
difference to your customers, and then get out there and conquer the world.