Find out where your best opportunity is and relentlessly pursue it

For many CEOs, getting by is good enough. Growth is either slow or stagnant, but that’s OK, because there’s enough money to pay the bills and count a small profit along the way. But for other CEOs, they are looking for more. They want to build something special, but how do you get there from where you are now?

‘Tips from the Top’
book to be released

If you’re looking for leadership ideas and lessons to help take your business to the next level, be sure to check out Michael Feuer’s new book that comes out later this month, “Tips from the Top: 100+ Award-Winning Columns Proven to Solve Complex Business Puzzles.” Feuer founded OfficeMax and served as its CEO for 16 years. He’s also an award-winning columnist for Smart Business.

The key is to examine the market you are in and find the sweet spot. What is it that you are doing that offers the best opportunity for growth? You might have a dozen products or services, but maybe only one is resonating with the market and really showing signs of greater potential. Sure, the others are doing OK, but they aren’t doing nearly as well as the one special product.
If you want to see rapid growth, you need to focus on exploiting the opportunity the one product or service has presented you with. Focus all of your energy on figuring out how to spark increased sales and widen its market reach, even if it means leaving the other products behind.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you abandon them, but put them in more of a maintain mode while you go after the big prize. The money the other products make can be used to fund your growth initiatives for the special one, but the majority of your leadership team’s talent should be focused on making the most of your best growth opportunity, not maintaining the status quo.
This method of thinking might end up transforming your business into something you never imagined, similar to the way IBM transformed itself. IBM made its name selling computers and other business equipment, but when that business started to fade, the company refocused on technology consulting. The company had the knowledge and leadership ability to move into a new space and did whatever it took to accomplish that. Once lucrative lines of business were sold off to refocus on a new core offering.
Your change may not be as drastic, but the important point is to focus on your most lucrative opportunity to maximize your growth potential. Other product lines may not get the attention they once did, but if you want to do better than just getting by, taking a little risk is the only way to accomplish your long-term goals.