What Can Focus Do for Your Business? I Asked an Apollo Astronaut...

SpaceX launched their Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft for a resupply mission this week, which made me think of a conversation I had years ago with Apollo astronaut Dick Gordon. That moment completely changed my thinking about the power of focus for any enterprise, including for the companies I regularly work with as part of my strategic marketing consulting business.

I asked Gordon, "What was the most significant lesson learned from the Apollo Space Program?"

“The power of focus,” he said. “Anything is possible when you have a very clear desired outcome shared by everyone and around which all action revolves. In our case, it was the moon.”

He explained that prior to Apollo, the United States (representing the free world at that time) was losing the space race to its Cold War opponent, the former Soviet Union. U.S. space exploration consisted of a hodge-podge of initiatives, none of which worked together. There were numerous independent projects in progress, spread among multiple government agencies and contractors, involving thousands of people and investments of billions of dollars per year.

"The only driving theme was speed, to be the first at something, anything," Gordon said. "All of that time and money was being expended while the Soviets kicked our butts with one historical achievement after another."

In his bid to win the Space Race of the 1950s and 1960s, John F. Kennedy didn’t go broader, he went narrower. He said, "...I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

He didn’t set this goal quietly either. He branded the initiative as the Apollo Space Program and launched it with a grand gesture in the most public way possible: A historic speech to Congress on May 25, 1961 that the entire world heard. He put a stake in the ground with a proud declaration of a singular goal. No one knew at the time how to do it; but if achieved, this feat clearly would establish the U.S. and the rest of the free world as the dominant force in space.

So getting back to business strategy: If the power of focus put a man on the moon, what could focus do for a company attempting to be the Go-To (the market leader) in their space? The answer? Market dominance.

A Go-To Has Maniacal Focus on a Singular Strategic Goal

In the beginning of any new initiative, you never have unlimited resources. And any organization can effectively do only so many things at a time. This is what makes focus so essential.

This may even mean offering just one product or service to just one market, to begin with. Focus is not “a” way to gain market traction but “the” way.

Andy Grove, the longtime Intel CEO who transformed the company from a me-too chip manufacturer into an innovative Go-To for microprocessors, had this to say in his book, Only the Paranoid Survive:

“A question that often comes up at times of strategic transformation is, should you pursue a highly focused approach, betting everything on one strategic goal, or should you hedge?...I tend to believe Mark Twain hit it on the head when he said, ‘Put all of your eggs in one basket and WATCH THAT BASKET.’ It's harder to be the best of class in several fields than in just one…Hedging is expensive and dilutes commitment. Without exquisite focus, the resources and energy of the organization will be spread a mile wide—and they will be an inch deep.”

Sun Rays Vs. Laser Beams

The book, Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends On It, by legendary marketer, Al Ries, is considered a marketing classic and makes a strong case for focus. Bill Gross, the famed serial entrepreneur and founder of startup incubator, IdeaLab, has raved about how this book turned around his thinking, strategic approach, and fortunes. This excerpt from the book’s introduction sums it up:

“The sun is a powerful source of energy. Every hour the sun washes the earth with billions of kilowatts of energy. Yet with a hat and some sunscreen you can bathe in the light of the sun for hours at a time with few ill effects. A laser is a weak source of energy. A laser takes a few watts of energy and focuses them in a coherent stream of light. But with a laser you can drill a hole in a diamond or wipe out a cancer.

When you focus a company, you create the same effect. You create a powerful, laser-like ability to dominate a market. That’s what focusing is all about.

When a company becomes unfocused, it loses its power. It becomes a sun that dissipates its energy over too many products and too many markets.”

Recap: The Power of Concentration

Focus lets you concentrate your resources. It lets you concentrate your message, so that it speaks directly to your targets’ pain points and needs in their own language. It helps unqualified prospects self-select out, before they waste your precious selling energies. It tells employees what you don’t do, so they stay focused on the right priorities.

Here’s one example. In 2003-2004, Lego was in a state of crisis, with falling revenues following a long period of stagnation. When new CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp came in, he declared Lego would go "back to the brick" by concentrating on core products and core customers. As detailed in the book, Brick by Brick, the company cut back on many of its brand extensions, cut the number of brick designs by 46%, and re-narrowed its market focus to kids ages five to nine. The next year, sales increased 12% and LEGO had come back from a $292 million loss in 2004 to a pre-tax profit of $117 million in 2005. In fact, as stated by the Financial Times, Lego enjoyed 12 more straight years of revenue growth and “long defied gravity as other toymakers succumbed to the trend of children spending more time playing digitally.” In time, the company briefly lost focus, and revenues took a hit in 2017, though Lego still dominated with a two-thirds share of the “construction toy” market. After a quick course correction, however, growth resumed in 2018.

So, make it your mantra: Focus, focus, focus.

Act Now: Start with These Three Questions

1.  In what market space do you ultimately want to be the Go-To?
2.  In a couple of words, what do you want to be known for? What’s your end-game moonshot?
3. What offerings, activities and markets currently sit outside your Go-To objective, which may be diluting your efforts and resources?

I’ve been studying Go-To companies for almost two decades as part of my work as a strategic marketing consultant and have noticed that there are seven core elements that make the difference for a Go-To vs. a Me-Too: focus, beachhead, obsession, ownership, conviction, results and change. I’ve codified these into a four-phase, step-by-step approach called the Apollo Method for Market Dominance (because the Apollo Space Program used this same approach to win the space race).

This is the second of eight articles I will publish in the coming weeks on these seven elements, followed by articles about the method for implementing them. You can find the first article here. Let me know what you think.

Want to cut to the chase? Get all of the strategies in one place by downloading the free eBook, 7 Things a Go-To Does Differently .

My forthcoming book, The Apollo Method for Market Dominance: How to Become the Utterly Unique, Premium Go-To in Ridiculously Competitive Markets is a step-by-step playbook for implementing these strategies. If you’d like a free executive summary when it launches, sign up here.

I am the founder and president of Lina Group, Inc., a strategic marketing consulting firm that specializes in market dominance and differentiation strategy, primarily for technology companies. The firm’s specialty is complex enterprise and analytic solutions in competitive or emerging markets. I am a frequent speaker, workshop presenter and executive-team coach on topics such as vision development, strategy, marketing, thought leadership content, message development and pitching. I am also involved in the School of Engineering at Stanford University and I advise the student-led Stanford Marketing Group. I have served as chief marketing officer for technology startups and began my career at Accenture. After several years there as a management consultant, I helped found the firm’s Communications Industry Group. I served as its Director of Worldwide Marketing and helped lay the foundation for what has become a multi-billion-dollar business.