Don’t try to be the ‘next’

“Don’t try to be the ‘next’. Instead, try to be the other, the changer, the new.” -Seth Godin

John Francis "Jack" Welch  is an American business executive, author, and chemical engineer. He was chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. During his tenure at GE, the company's value rose 4,000% .

When Jack Welch remade GE, the most fabled decision he made was this: If we can’t be #1 or #2 in an industry, we must get out. Why sell a billion-dollar division that’s making a profit quite happily while ranking #4 in market share? Easy. Because it distracts management attention. It sucks resources and capital and focus and energy. And most of all, it teaches people in the organization that it’s okay not to be the best in the world. Jack quit the dead ends. By doing so, he freed resources to get his other businesses through the Dip.

The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery. A long slog that’s actually a shortcut, because it gets you where you want to go faster than any other path.

Quit the dead ends- Avoid distraction of attention

Source: “The Dip: The extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit (and when to stick) ” by Seth Godin