I’m sitting on a leadership panel this week at the 2014 Connecticut Business Expo. One of the first questions we’ll consider is: “What are the greatest challenges that business leaders face today, especially as they seek to grow?” 
There are, as you might surmise, many challenges. But one of the biggest is what I refer to as the Shiny Toy Syndrome.
Now, we all love shiny toys. I know I do. But chasing after shiny toys in the world of business can be a recipe for disaster.
Shiny toys come in many forms:
- The latest and greatest in SEM, SEO, PPC, and LinkedIn advertising
- The hottest in websites and social media platforms
- The newest in marketing blitzes
- Bigger, better, smaller, different products and what’s ‘really cutting edge’ in R & D
- The jazziest in hardware, software, underwear (just checking in to see if you’re still with me), iPhones, Droids and tablets
- Emerging markets, foreign markets, global markets, different markets
You see, the greatest crisis of our age is not that we don’t have enough. It’s that we have too much: too much information; too much noise; too much stimulation; too much to do.
There are simply too many things that distract us; too much that pulls at our attention; too many endless possibilities that take us away from the “main thing.” And as Stephen Covey so brilliantly said it: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
Every business leader we coach or consult with feels overwhelmed by the amount of information that’s coming at him or her. It is tempting, indeed, to engage in what Jim Collins refers to as “the undisciplined pursuit of more.”
“Be so good they can’t ignore you,” Steve Martin once said.
But it’s tough to be that good when you’re constantly pulled and distracted.
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on,” Steve Jobs said. “But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”
In the end, business isn’t really that complicated. It’s about
- Relationships
- Products and services that delight and uplift
- Communication
- A servant’s heart
- Integrity and care
Successful business leaders know the power of focusing on the few essential things that will lead to exponential growth. And they have the courage to walk away from all the rest. Even when the toys are shiny.
Hi Walt,
This is a great summary of what’s really important in business. I think it applies to most of the rest of life too, to communicate and live with integrity and care. Well said.
The two-part “successful business rules” that I always harken back to are 1) Tell the truth; and 2) Return phone calls.
Best,
Scott