Blog 2: Rippen Liu

I strongly resonate with the reading when it mentions how important and in the same time rare it is for a company to align external positioning and internal capabilities. The first example that came to my mind is Apple, which is not a particularly unique example. I love watching Steve Jobs’ clips, from which I always learn something about the person and the company. There was one time he said about Apple, “…a lot of people think that focus is about saying yes. No. Focus is about saying no.” Apple became so successful particularly because of saying no to countless projects that “seem interesting” and bring every employee’s laser focus and the best of the company’s inner strengths on the handful few. The rates at which Apple’s products become blockbuster hits are astonishing, even for something as simple as watch and earphones. In comparison, there are countless other companies that have hundreds of models that do nothing other than confusing the hell out of consumers, and bring nearly no value other than “taking the front of the spotlight”. Such as the folding phones in the current stage. 

I think the same goes for any products. I have heard so many times when companies are launching new products, they go ask “what do consumers these days want?”. Nearly all of the companies that ask that question fail miserably. By asking that question and blindsidedly chasing “waves”, companies give up the competencies and hand all the initiatives to the consumers, who actually don’t know what they want. The ones which deliver truly unique services that ended up shaping the world aligned with their internal competencies. As Steve Jobs said, they made the iPhone, not because of some grand tech trends, but because everyone at Apple wanted such a phone, and Apple’s competency was mature enough for them to do so.

Another example that came to me was actually not a business, but Warren Buffett’s investing strategy. For decades, he has not touched any of the “internet” business at all, simply because, as he said, “that’s not my specialty”. This avoidance of tech companies was perceived as “dumb” by nearly all of the “business experts” out there during the waves of tech booms. Despite one after another jaw-dropping “unicorns” stocks shoot through the roof, Buffett resisted the urge to “be smart” and invest. Many may argue that he hence missed multiple opportunities to further multifold his portfolio, but he also avoided all of the internet flops that got almost anyone else. 

This is even meaningful relating back in life: how many times have the majority of us stepped into a field believing we understand it, even though in fact we have zero clues about what’s going on? Countless. And history repeats itself over and over again. “Sharing economy”, “artificial intelligence”, “autonomous vehicles” are all fantastic terms, but all inevitably incur 99% of imposers taking advantage of those with no internal capabilities of understanding.

A contrary example that I thought of, coincidentally, is also Apple (now). Continually lackluster earning reports force the company to seek all kinds of ways to excite the stakeholders, which makes the company step into various “hot” realms, including the video streaming services, where Apple has practically no expertise in. All of these moves here and there to me are not a good sign about “focus”. How will they turn out? We shall look forward to them.