Being Great at Not Doing

In full disclosure, I’m on the treadmill as I’m dictating this column, a byproduct of eating enough over the Thanksgiving weekend to power a commuter train. In a season of giving thanks, I’m thankful beach season is at least six months away. At this point I’m in no danger of Sports Illustrated calling me to appear in their annual swimsuit edition.

Let’s just say that when filling out my pants size for a Christmas wish list, discretion is the better part of valor so I’ve added a size or two for good measure – if you’ll pardon the bad pun.

But on to the topic de jour. 

I know many of you over the years have read the classic business strategy tome – “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. For those of you who haven’t – shame on you – because it reads more like an entertaining page turner than a traditional business how-to, which often generates the interest level of a middle-school science film.

In a tribute to the author, I’ve seen and heard a number of presentations over the years which freely borrow a number of the lessons he tries to impart – i.e. “getting the right people on the bus in the right seats” “get the wrong people off the bus” – etc.

But what has remained with me years after my initial read was a single phrase which is too often ignored by companies and usually with disastrous results.

And it goes something like this. “Sometimes the hardest decisions companies have to make are deciding what they’re NOT going to do.”

Think about that for a minute. How often do CPA firms or other businesses for that matter begin strategy meetings by saying “folks, here’s what we’re not going to do.”

I would guess probably not very often.

How many times have you looked at a CPA firm’s web page and under client services, you find as many as 15-20 services? If you dug a little deeper how many of those actually have a partner in charge of every service.

Again, probably not very often.

The days of CPA firms attempted to be the client service equivalent of a Costco are over. At one time, perhaps the broad-based approach was standard, but then again just a few years ago the thought of starting an accounting firm that existed online was unthinkable.

I once had a manager whom I once heard tell a chronic overachiever, “I would rather you do three things well, than 10 things mediocre.”

Jim Collins couldn’t have said it better.