The Power of FOCUS

I’m sure most of you must have read this joke sometime or another.?

First-year students at Medical School were receiving their first anatomy class with a real dead human body.

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?They all gathered around the surgery table with the body covered in a white sheet. The professor started the class by telling them, "In medicine, it is necessary to have two important qualities as a doctor. The first is that you should not be disgusted by anything involving the human body".

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The professor pulled back the sheet, stuck his finger in the viscera of the corpse, withdrew it, and stuck it in his mouth. Having done this, the doctor said, "Go ahead and do the same thing." to his students. The students initially freaked out and hesitated for several minutes, but eventually took turns sticking a finger into the corpse and sucking on it.

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When everyone finished, the professor looked at the class and told them, "The second most important quality is 'focus'. I stuck in my middle finger but sucked on my index finger. Now learn to pay attention!"?

Jokes apart, what I would like to deliberate on in this newsletter is ‘Focus’. Needless to say, it serves as one of my strengths and has helped me take on challenges, and overcome obstacles, just because I wouldn’t deviate from track.

Focus helps build perseverance, and when you can persevere, you become resilient—resilient to so many dejections, sarcasm, negative outcomes, et al. When you focus on something, it changes you too….remember, the time immemorial?story of Arjuna and the eye of the bird? ?Yes, while it is very inspiring to read about such a feat, one must remember that the person who develops focus undergoes transformation too.?

I’m proud to be an alumnus of TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences); not only is the Institute committed to creating, developing, and imparting knowledge about the changing dynamics of social realities and addressing social concerns. This is in line with the vision (focus) of the TATA family and scions, to improve communal welfare and the lives of people therein—building a culture of giving back to society. Needless to say, we are already witnessing the?change?this focus has been able to drive and continues to drive by equipping communities with the know-how, skills, and capability to have better livelihoods through meaningful contributions to building a better nation.

There are businesses you see around today, and if they have been able to sustain their presence, then obviously their focus has been on a larger picture and therefore their purpose. While it is not uncommon to have measurable goals as your core purpose, some keep “impact” as their key focus.

In publishing the anecdotes I do through my newsletter, I am passing on my observations and experiences — with either myself and/or those around me. So many times, I have wished for wisdom or insights that would have helped me during a specific time; sometimes I would be fortunate to have a mentor, but often I have learned several things by myself, through perseverance. I’m sure curious learners still exist, and therefore I care to share matters that I find relevant and thought-provoking. My journey itself is a spin-off of my perseverant nature. This year, my team and I will be focusing on developing e-learning as an offering in our business. Our focus is very much aligned with making workplace / executive education affordable across different strata of businesses.

How FOCUS helps businesses not just survive but thrive

Like the bird’s eye (which didn’t strike the other great princes), so it is in real life. Often, organizations have too broad a vision; if that’s the case, then how does one focus?

Focus helps you differentiate what you want to prioritize. Let’s look at the vision of some brands most of us are impressed with (even addicted to).

Observe the intensity of their FOCUS?

Consider WhatsApp or even Google. I wonder: what is the percentage of internet-savvy people who don’t use either?

Look at how WhatsApp has evolved, with its core focus being connecting people with those whom they care about in the most fluid manner possible; or, for that matter, let’s take a look at Google, whose sole purpose is to be the most preferred site of information universally.

I think either brand is our first go-to option at least 90% of the time, if not more.

This is an outcome of their focus. Period.

The People Focus

Let me talk a bit about how focusing on their people helps organizations grow and sustain themselves.

Many of us have changed jobs over the years. On reflecting, I distinctly recall one brand that I got very emotional about …. ”TransWorks” (it goes by another name today). While, of course, the pay mattered, it wasn’t just the money that kept me ticking. The culture itself was so addictive, the ambience I was in so growth-conducive, and the leaders and mentors I was fortunate to cross paths with - all of this made the parting a difficult decision.?

Some organizations make you feel differently about yourself, they infuse you with confidence, inspire you, and give you the ground to play out, hone your skills, and high-jump your potential. Their people-focus is robust and progressive.

Such people and teams help your brand thrive and stay true to its purpose.

Be different. Push Limits. The CLIENT Focus.

Let me talk about how we, at Execore Spectrum, keep pushing the limits for our clients. To begin with, we started as a corporate training agency, but come COVID-19, and the pandemic locked everything down. It wasn’t any different for us. With the loss of jobs and lives we witnessed around us, there was hardly any training any client wanted to do at all. All were busy grappling with the challenges of their people working remotely, productivity downslides, rigid processes, unfriendly policies, and more…..We saw an opportunity. We extended help where we could to our clients and prospects who desperately were seeking help, but in different areas, and not our core offering. We adapted and pushed our limits. We had to shift focus from our specialization to getting led by the customer. Needless to say, this requires you to think differently, build capability, be bold, challenge norms, and yet, carve your niche.

On a parting note, I’d like to wrap up by saying,?‘Focus helps you stay true to your goals’,?the stronger your focus, you minimize deviations, you get immersed in making your goals happen, and you develop and turn wise along the way. But yes, don’t overdo it either, don’t focus so much that you don’t see opportunity coming your way. As always, I welcome your thoughts by way of comments. What has your experience been like? Do share your wit, sarcasm, humour. ??

#focusonyourgoals #developfocus #perseverance