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Are you feeling over-whelmed by all the lists of how-tos and resolutions? Perhaps you're deeply engrossed in an elaborate strategic planning process? Maybe you've already broken a promise to yourself for 2014? Don't feel too bad - the odds of success just aren't in our favor.
There is something you can do about it. Too often we all are doing too much says performance expert Joe Calloway in his book Be The Best At What Matters Most. "Those that win aren't the ones that do the most things, just the most important." You won't succeed when you spread your attention among too many things.
As I was reading Calloway's book, I appreciated his mantra of one size doesn't fit all when it comes to being the best. Each company, organization, family, or individual has to understand what is most important to them and what ‘being the best’ is all about.
It was during the Great Recession that the concept of the book came to Calloway. When he talked to organizations that were doing well and their secret for surviving, and in some cases thriving, it always boiled down to those that had committed to focusing on the 2 or 3 things that made a difference for their customers.
Calloway adds, "Be so good at the basics that you're cutting edge." Being the best is a moving target and requires constant innovation. But all that innovation should be focused on the 3 or 4 basic wants of the client. "Sizzle on the steak is fine, but get the steak right first."
This really struck me. Our mission at Gibson is to Protect What Matters Most. Whether your mission is "protecting" or "being the best" or even “the best at protecting”, it's the latter part - "what matters most" that really does matter the most. You have to know the thing or things that are the ultimate difference makers.
We have a process at Gibson called GPS that helps us learn and understand what matters most to our clients. It helps us guide our clients and know where to focus our efforts. Sometimes our clients are very in tune with what matters most and other times our process helps them understand.
I also thought about a broader application. What about our relationships? Do you find yourself spread thin dealing with unbelievable pressures to be all things to all people? What about dialing in to the thing that matters most to the special people in your life and focusing on being the best at it? Trust and mutual respect mean a lot more than birthday balloons and gift cards.
What’s The Risk
It's easy to think about gimmicks and flash. Maybe it's about a grand strategy or plan. None of that "out of the box" stuff matters if we can't win "inside the box". And winning in the box is all about cultural clarity internally, and substance and consistency with clients.
As leaders we would do well to practice this idea, too. Comments from a couple of Calloway's admirers on social media, Marty Grunder and Carey Lohrenz, said being intentional about your organizational culture is the biggest takeaway they received from Calloway's book. Calloway says we should fire employees, clients, and vendors whose values clash with our culture.
"There aren't any silver bullets," says Calloway. "Not one." The premise of Calloway's book was so simple, yet so... doable. As another social friend of Calloway's, Randy Gage, tweeted, "Joe is the truth! Even EF Hutton listens when he talks." I understand exactly what he means.
Social business advisor Jeff Korhan summed up the book like this: (1) Simplify, (2) Win on the fundamentals and (3) Take action!
Better than a 20 step process or advice list isn't it? In a tweet to me, Korhan added that's it's all about execution. "Simple as that. It's where every business is challenged." And Calloway's book, in my mind, brings home the concept of simple clarity and focused action like no other.
