Today’s entrepreneurs and business leaders must tread a tightrope through a universe of distractions. Information pours into our brains in a relentless, never-ceasing deluge. A rising army of companies across the globe competes for our customers using “new and improved” business models and practices that lead us to second-guess ourselves. Meanwhile, social and economic turbulence threaten to shake apart what we’ve built. In the eye of this hurricane, it’s all too easy to let something very basic yet very crucial slip away.

Focus. That’s right. The ability to focus—ruthlessly—in the midst of chaos is what separates the companies that grow steadily and successfully from the ones that get distracted, trot down the wrong side path, and find themselves lost in the forest.

Have you heard the phrase “Do one thing and do it well’?” Well, that’s how companies that succeed long-term do it—they concentrate on doing one thing better than anyone else. They block out the external noise and stick to their proverbial knitting until the strategy they’re following just doesn’t work anymore.

 …