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Strategy

Strategic Focus

Strategic focus is a tool that businesses use to concentrate its efforts and resources on specific tasks, business areas, or market segments. It involves setting clear goals, identifying key activities and decisions that contribute to the achievement of these goals, and aligning resources accordingly. This approach helps businesses maximize efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity, leading to competitive advantage and improved performance, while minimizing distractions and inefficiencies.

  1. Learn Strategic Focus with the Practica AI Coach

    The Practica AI Coach helps you improve in Strategic Focus by using your current work challenges as opportunities to improve. The AI Coach will ask you questions, instruct you on concepts and tactics, and give you feedback as you make progress.

  2. Curated Learning Resources

    • Kellogg School of Management logo
      In a Crisis, Don’t Chase Shiny, Bright Objects

      Sanjay Khosla, Senior Fellow and Academic Director, Kellogg School of Management

      In times of crisis, businesses often react by pursuing many new opportunities and ideas in an attempt to find solutions quickly. However, this can be counterproductive by distracting resources and creating chaos. A more effective approach is to focus on a single plan and concentrate efforts on what the business can actually control. Sanjay provides the example of a CEO he coached. The CEO's company was able to quadruple profits by muting distractions, focusing the team on digital aspects within their control, and deploying idle resources to E Commerce during the COVID lockdown. To evaluate new ideas, companies should assess if they have margin potential, momentum for growth, and material impact, as well as whether they are short, medium, or long term priorities. Focusing on what really matters is how businesses win in times of crisis.
    • Hungryroot logo
      Shiny Object Syndrome

      Alex Weinstein, Chief Digital Officer, Hungryroot

      Many companies suffer from shiny object syndrome where they chase every new trend without focusing on their core strategy. This leads them to do a half-hearted job on multiple initiatives while competitors who focus on one thing do a dramatically better job. Companies need to make strategic bets and stick to them over time instead of jumping from one fad to the next. True commitment to values and causes, not just following trends, builds trust with customers. Brands that have donated to the homeless for years or supported disadvantaged entrepreneurs long-term show real conviction over temporary virtue signaling tied to what's trending at the moment.
    • Silicon Valley Product Group logo
      Product Strategy – Focus

      Marty Cagan, Partner, Silicon Valley Product Group

      Focus is critical for Product Strategy. Organizations need to pick just a few truly important priorities to work on instead of the many they think are important. Marty gives the example of Pandora, whose lack of Product Strategy and focus led to many features but little innovation or results. Like work in progress limits help teams, focus helps organizations by limiting the number of major problems they try to solve at once. Good Product Strategy begins with focus on a few pivotal objectives that will lead to a cascade of favorable outcomes. Without this focus, the Product Strategy is doomed from the start.
    • MDsave logo
      How Adults Build Products

      Daniel Schmidt, VP of Product Management, MDsave

      Product managers must learn to control their organization's attention in order to build differentiated products. Companies often behave like children, chasing shiny objects and distractions instead of focusing on creating value. To manage attention, PMs must resist distractions, balance adapting to customer needs while also changing the market, and earn the Confidence to make their own product bets based on a holistic view.