Business is not a decathlon: why entrepreneurs should concentrate on one thing at a time

Business is not a decathlon: why entrepreneurs should concentrate on one thing at a time

Published 13 February 2014 08:54, Updated 14 February 2014 09:07

Vaughn Richtor

If there’s one thing entrepreneurs tend to excel at, it’s identifying opportunities.

Asking the question “what if . . . ?” and coming up with creative ideas are an entrepreneur’s forte, and the cornerstone on which many great businesses are built. The question is: if so many businesses start with great ideas, then why do so many businesses fail?

The simple truth is, the idea alone is not enough. And while you need a great idea to build your business on, the irony is that considering too many possibilities at one time can also inhibit your chances of making your business a success. You can have the best vision and the best strategy but if it is not followed through and executed then what’s the point?

I don’t think anyone starts out in business thinking to themselves, “I want to be mediocre”. Rather, it’s to be the best they can possibly be. But how do you get really good at something? The truth is you have to focus – your efforts, energy and ideas. Not just at the start-up phase, but throughout the whole business life-cycle.

The power of focus

Compare, for example, the difference between a decathlete and a 100-metre sprinter. I wasn’t surprised to learn there aren’t any world records across the top results in each of the decathlon disciplines. Why? Quite simply, the wider your area of focus, the harder it is to be a high performer. Decathletes are focusing on so many challenges; they do not have the time to be “the best” at any one of them.

It’s the same in a business context. When we’re faced with so many interesting opportunities, we have to ask ourselves what we really want to achieve. Do we want to be the decathlete – good at 10 things; or the sprinter – exceptional at one? And for entrepreneurs who aspire towards the latter, the challenge is to do something which is inherently difficult for an “ideas person” – and that’s to simply concentrate on one thing at a time.

And you have to do it in a constant state of change and ambiguity. The business environment moves so quickly that you can’t spend six months researching or implementing because by the time you launch, the opportunity is gone. You have to be very flexible and agile, and having a narrow focus in the early phase of a business allows you to do this. Struggling to know which ideas to implement? My advice would be to make decisions based on what will deliver the biggest benefit for your business. You don’t have to have all the answers straight away; concentrate on doing one thing well and then you can build upon this later.

It’s the approach we took back in 1999 when we launched ING Direct here in Australia. At the time, the market was ripe for introducing a bold and different way of banking but we made the decision to start with just one product – the Savings Maximiser. Our focus was not on being the biggest bank; we simply wanted to deliver fair value to our customers.

Maintaining focus as you grow

But having focus doesn’t mean you have to have blinkers on when it comes to assessing opportunities. A strategy should be living and breathing not locked in stone, so you must adapt as your business grows.

This is where a new challenge presents itself – essentially making your business more complex while still aspiring towards simplicity. So how do you maintain that focus when your business starts to grow?

For many years we were known as a “savings bank” – but our initial focus on providing our customers with simple, straightforward products set the foundation for growth. We wanted our customers to have such a good experience in dealing with us, and benefit from the simplicity of our products, that they became advocates for us.

Our focus was, and continues to be, asking ourselves – what’s the right thing to do from a customer’s point of view? “Customer experience” is in our DNA, so we only launch new products when we believe we can do something special. By diversifying our business model to incorporate transaction, mortgage and superannuation business lines, while keeping in line with our values, more and more of our customers started choosing us as their primary bank.

The most important thing to bear in mind at any stage of your business life-cycle is to try and keep things simple. Whether you’re starting out, or expanding, make sure the your decisions align with your vision and values, and fit in with your business DNA. Time is finite; so it’s essential to prioritise. Don’t spend too much time worrying about what your business will look like in the future; focus on what you’re doing today.

Vaughn Richtor is the chief executive of ING Direct Australia and of Asia Retail Banking International ING Bank. He first headed up ING Direct Australia from 1995 to 2005, helping establish the brand.