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Ruthless Focus: How to use key core strategies to grow your business is about what companies that have been successful for decades do that's different. We believe that if you learn what they do, you'll be able to do it, too.

You'll discover how they develop a simple core strategy. You'll learn that they focus ruthlessly on making the strategy work and on business basics. And unlike many companies in fad-crazy America, they stay with a strategy as long as it works.

Here's some more detail about what you'll find in Ruthless Focus. Every chapter except the Conclusion is followed by Thinking Points and all but the Introduction are followed by suggestions for Action Steps.

Introduction
Tom traces the story of the book. You'll find out where he got the phrase "ruthless focus."

The Basics
There are details of the two rounds of research. Catalina Marketing and Sykes Enterprises are examples of where good business ideas come from.

We review how companies start and what we can learn from company lifecycles. We also describe two kinds of stall points. There are the crises that are a natural outcome of growth. And there are crises that can surprise you.

Dealing with either kind of crisis takes a ruthless focus on business basics and a ruthless focus on a clear core strategy. We tell the story of Chico's FAS as an example of a company that thrived when it maintained a ruthless focus on a simple core strategy, but got into trouble when it lost that focus.

Introduction to Strategies
Strategy has gotten a bad name over the years because too many companies and too many academics have turned strategy into a synonym for complex planning. We suggest that a strategy should answer two basic questions. Great businesses, like the ones highlighted in this book, know what their strategy is. Their entire team can explain it easily and quickly.

Ruthless focus on business basics makes it possible for you to grow, but it doesn't create growth. Ruthless focus on a single core strategy drives growth. It helps you create and reinforce a sustainable competitive advantage.

We describe five basic kinds of strategy . There's no magic in our list. It's simply a way to sort examples into helpful piles. We close the chapter by looking at how strategies are used in real life.

We use Southwest Airlines as an example of how a simple core strategy guides thousands of actions. The next five chapters each describe a single core strategy.

Opportunity strategies call for bold action that transforms a business or the way business is done. Examples include SeaLand, Keller Williams, Sykes Enterprises, and Ferolito, Vultaggio & Sons (Arizona Iced Tea).

Technological strategies use technology to transform a market. Examples include Nucor, Zara's, and Amazon.

Implementation strategies are built on superior execution. Examples include Wal-Mart, Toyota, and Ritz-Carlton.

Differentiation strategies define a niche that the business can exploit and defend. Examples include Enterprise Rent-a-Car, AAON, Boston Beer (Samuel Adams), and Publix Supermarkets.

Acquisition strategies create growth and development by acquiring other companies. Examples include Avnet, General Electric, ITW, Brown & Brown, and Cisco.

Conclusion: Lessons Learned

You need a simple core strategy.
You must focus ruthlessly on the core strategy.
Keep finding ways to do things better.
Use it until it doesn't work anymore.
Focus ruthlessly on business basics.
Keep things simple.
Systems + People + Culture = Profit.

Tom closes with some Final Words about ruthless focus and how you can use it in your organization.

There are also several Appendices
Questions to Help You Choose and Develop a Strategy
Questions to Help You Succeed with a Strategy
List of Companies Covered at Length
Additional Resources
List of all Action Steps

Check out my latest book, Ruthless Focus, at Amazon.

Posts about Ruthless Focus

Ruthless Focus: How to use key core strategies to grow your business
The Story of the Book
Keep it Simple, Strategist
Strategy: Staying with What Works
Ruthless Focus on the Business Basics
Theo Albrecht, Trader Joe's, and Ruthless Focus
Ruthless Focus: What about Toyota?
Ruthless Focus: Three Kinds of Crisis
The story of Yahoo's shifting strategy
Tom Stemberg, Staples, and the Two Strategy Questions
How Doing Acquisitions is like being a Fighter Pilot
Learning about Differentiation from Barbeque
Danger, Trader Joes!