Do Less Better: The Power of Strategic Sacrifice in a Complex World isn’t the first book on focus, nor will it be the last. But the element that separates this book from the others is the “how” – how one finds focus in a business world that is more complex than ever before. All the way from the C-suite’s choice of markets in which to compete, to the daily to-do list, the “how” is one’s capacity to make tough strategic choices and tough strategic sacrifices.

There’s a difference between tough choices and tough sacrifices. Tough strategic choices are about the business. Tough sacrifices are about you. Tough sacrifices claw at your emotions because they require that you do something that you don’t want to do. These are the sacrifices that rob you of sleep, sober your disposition, heighten your stress, and choke your patience on the little things in life.

Giving up something of value for the sake of other considerations is the essence of sacrifice. People do this all the time in their personal lives, but few practice sacrifice within the workplace. For small to medium sized companies facing the clout of giant competitors, this is a critical success factor. That’s not to say that sacrifice can’t help mega-corporations mired by complexity, reacquire nimbleness.

In Do Less Better, I discuss several disciplines and examples of successful focus and sacrifice as they apply to leadership, strategy, marketing, branding and culture. In its pages is a tool-kit of road-tested strategies for leaders and managers keen to cut through complexity and clear a path to personal, departmental, and corporate agility and resilience.

Here are a few ways to clear that path:

1.  Appreciate that the best strategies require sacrifice

Focus on clarity and single-mindedness. Great strategies tell you what not to do.

2.  Specialists still beat generalists

Product, market and customer sacrifice ensures viability and strengthens long-term competitiveness.

3.  The small guy doesn’t need deep pockets to outmaneuver the giant

Great ideas and the willingness to sacrifice for differentiation are the best bargains in business.

4.  Don’t let Big Data can cripple you

Focus on the information that matters, sacrifice the rest.

5.  Never try to be all things to all people

You’ll be rewarded for your distinctiveness.

6.  By doing less, better, companies thrive on innovation, know-how and mindset

Bulldozing the walls of complexity never comes without sacrifice. The earlier and the bigger the sacrifice, the easier it gets afterward. Sacrifice must remain a part of the organization’s DNA. You are never finished pruning what you plant.

For more on Do Less Better: The Power of Strategic Sacrifice in a Complex World, including a free sneak peek at the introductory chapter, check out www.dolessbetter.ca

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