The Main Thing

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
     -- Jim Barksdale

Jim Barksdale gave the best speech I have ever heard at a company gathering in 2005. His speech provided tenets for success based on lessons learned from running successful companies like Netscape and McCaw Cellular. His delivery featured his famous folksy style and drove illustrated his points using stories from the heady Netscape years. His main point was summarized by saying, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” I have always found the statement useful in bringing direction and focus to planning and prioritization processes. A difficulty in efficiently reaching consensus is a sure sign the main thing has not been identified and agreed upon by a group.

Identifying and obtaining broad buy-in for the main thing brings alignment of effort, clarifies prioritization decisions, and reduces diversions on non-critical activities. Examples of main things for my teams over the last few years have been proving out a product concept, getting a carrier deal, and developing a 411 experience using the mobile data channel and the mobile screen. Now these were not concurrent and one would expect fewer main things in a three year period but an acquisition can lead to interesting adjustments. Identifying the main thing as it changed helped ensure the team quickly realigned to the new mission and remained committed to the project. Lower level teams often altered plans without waiting for guidance based on understanding leadership’s intent. Their decisions were usually the correct ones which enabled us to adjust quickly and make rapid progress without the need for extensive planning sessions. The process became more bottom’s up with the upper management levels ensuring the lower level team plans aligned with the overall mission and offering feedback when adjustments were required.

The main thing is directly related to schwerpunkt concept discussed in the previous post. I view the main thing as a strategic concept with a schwerpunkt acting to focus execution efforts on a milestone leading towards the main thing. To use a World War 2 analogy, Operation Cobra was a lightning strike by Gen. Bradley and the First US Army to break out of Normandy while the main thing was to liberate France and defeat the Third Reich. The schwerpunkt centered on a small 7000 yard corridor with strong air and artillery support. The massive use of 3000 aircraft, 1000 artillery pieces, and 2000 tanks brought intense focus on a single point where the opposition was weakest. The result was a breakout that allowed the allies to advance to the River Seine within a month. The 7000 ft. schwerpunkt of Operation Cobra was in support liberating France and served as a point of focus to align collective efforts, from General Bradley down to the individual foot soldiers, with the main thing.

What is your current organizations main thing? Do the folks around you have the same opinion? An organization that reaches consensus on the strategic and tactical objective will experience unity of action, increased initiative, and positive energy. A lack of alignment will usually be accompanied by multiple top priorities, overly optimistic and aggressive schedules, constantly shifting priorities, and long planning processes. Do not allow your organization to execute without a single, simple, concrete, strategic objective. Executing with a clearly identified main thing will give you a competitive advantage thanks to your increased efficiency and quick reaction to market changes.