Clarity; Focus; Definition; “What kind of company do you want to be?” – observation/insight from Farhad Manjoo


The incoherence, I think, is a sign of something deeper: Research in Motion doesn’t know what kind of company it wants to be.
Farhad Manjoo, What on Earth Happened to BlackBerry?:  Research in Motion’s new tablet is a misguided mess.

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I know practically nothing about technology.  I use a Mac, an iPhone, and I’m on a waiting list for the iPad 2.  These are made for a non-techie like me.

But I like to read Farhad Manjoo on Slate.com.  He teaches me, enlightens me, and though he must be some kind of techie genius, he writes in language I can understand.

In an article on the current state of Research in Motion (Blackberry), this quote jumped out at me:

The incoherence, I think, is a sign of something deeper: Research in Motion doesn’t know what kind of company it wants to be.

Of course, it reminds us of Peter Drucker’s famous first question:

“What is your business?” 
(Drucker’s other two questions:  “Who is your customer?  What does your customer consider value?”)

Clarity; focus; definition.  These are not “modern,” innovative” concerns.  These are always absolutely required for business success.

What kind of company do you want to be?  Start there, and start building. And if you ever forget this — if you can’t answer this in a crisp, short, coherent, sentence — then it’s time to start over.

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