{"id":1784,"date":"2013-02-10T10:14:38","date_gmt":"2013-02-10T18:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/?p=1784"},"modified":"2015-01-28T12:58:42","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T20:58:42","slug":"founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/","title":{"rendered":"Should CEO&#8217;s, Business Owners, Founders Focus Inside or Outside?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Founders, CEO&#8217;s, and business owners need to be skilled at knowing how to balance\u00a0many competing ideas, priorities, initiatives, and more.\u00a0 We explored this idea in the post the\u00a0<a title=\"Art of Balance \u2014 the Key to Business &amp; Management Success\" href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/art-of-balance-key-business-management-success\/\">Art of Balance that listed 20 continuums\u00a0<\/a>that founders, CEO&#8217;s, and business owners must balance constantly.\u00a0How much to focus your attention inside or outside your organization is one of the most important continuums to consider. There is no right answer. The focus should change constantly. Below are several contradictory points of view, any of which could be the most relevant for your organization at any point in time.<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_1787\" style=\"width: 253px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/internal-external-founder-view.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1787\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-1787\" title=\"internal-external-founder-view\" src=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/internal-external-founder-view.jpg\" alt=\"founder-internal-or-external-focus\" width=\"243\" height=\"208\" srcset=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/internal-external-founder-view.jpg 243w, https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/internal-external-founder-view-150x128.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 243px) 100vw, 243px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1787\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Founders focus should shift between internal and external.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>No one understands the market like the founder or CEO.\u00a0<\/strong> Jack Welch used to say that CEO&#8217;s should ask themselves what one or two things can they do that no one else in their organizaton can do.\u00a0 Many times, the founder or CEO understands the marketplace better than anyone and has the best sense of where to go.\u00a0 Therefore, they should constantly focus on making sure the organization is positioned well in the market.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Winning is all about execution.\u00a0 <\/strong>Ideas are a dime a dozen.\u00a0 Competitors come and go.\u00a0 Analysts (particularly on Wall Street) talk about the latest fads that will only last a quarter.\u00a0 It is all just noise.\u00a0 Focus internally and execute because more companies fail to succeed because of lack of execution rather than being beaten by the competition.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The founder and CEO has the best access to people and information, and the organization needs that.<\/strong>\u00a0 The CEO calling another CEO is totally different than anyone else calling another CEO.\u00a0 The organization needs that information and access to\u00a0players in the market (financing sources, strategic partners,\u00a0acquisition candidates, etc.)\u00a0for long-term success.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The best strategists focus externally.<\/strong>\u00a0 The Chair of the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School and my old professor, Jan Rivkin,\u00a0says that the best strategists &#8220;are relentless in understanding the external world.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Being different is the key to competitive advantage &#8212; if you focus externally too much it becomes tempting to pursue strategies done by everyone else.<\/strong>\u00a0 When you see a competitor doing well, it takes a very strong organization not to copy them.\u00a0 Sometimes you should copy good ideas.\u00a0 Sometimes a strategy that works for them is not the best for you.\u00a0 If you are constantly trying to catch-up to someone else, you will never be the leader.<\/li>\n<li>Our market is changing constantly (technology) and we need our best people watching the changes or our market hasn&#8217;t changed in 100 years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There is no one right answer.\u00a0 It helps, however, for every founder or CEO to make a conscious decision about how they should balance their time and priorities between the interior and exterior of their organization.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Art of Balance \u2014 the Key to Business &amp; Management Success\" href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/art-of-balance-key-business-management-success\/\">Art of Balance &#8212; the Key to Business and Management Success [January 13, 2013 &#8211; masonmyers.com]<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Business Strategy Plans Not Working? \u2013 Top Down vs Bottom-Up\" href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/business-strategy-plans\/\">Business Strategy Plans Not Working &#8212; Top-down vs Bottom-up [May 31, 2012 &#8211; masonmyers.com]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"postmeta_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"postmeta classifications small\"><span class=\"post_categories\">Categories:<a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/category\/execution\/balance\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Balance<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/category\/competitive-advantage-and-differentiation\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Competitive Advantage &amp; Differentiation<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/category\/execution\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Execution<\/a><\/span><br \/><span class=\"post_tags\">Tags:<a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/tag\/balance\/\" rel=\"tag\">Balance<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/tag\/business-growth-opportunities\/\" rel=\"tag\">Business Growth &amp; Opportunities<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/tag\/business-growth-strategy\/\" rel=\"tag\">Business Growth Strategy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/tag\/business-strategy\/\" rel=\"tag\">Business Strategy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/tag\/competitive-advantage\/\" rel=\"tag\">Competitive Advantage<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/tag\/culture\/\" rel=\"tag\">Culture<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/tag\/differentiation\/\" rel=\"tag\">Differentiation<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/tag\/leadership\/\" rel=\"tag\">Leadership<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/tag\/management\/\" rel=\"tag\">Management<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/tag\/strategy-2\/\" rel=\"tag\">Strategy<\/a><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Founders, CEO&#8217;s, and business owners need to be skilled at knowing how to balance\u00a0many competing ideas, priorities, initiatives, and more.\u00a0 We explored this idea in the post the\u00a0Art of Balance that listed 20 continuums\u00a0that founders, CEO&#8217;s, and business owners must balance constantly.\u00a0How much to focus&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,5,19],"tags":[366,79,91,89,38,41,96,62,156,31],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Balance, Competitive Advantage | Differentiation Strategy | Business Owners, Business Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Business owner and investor, Mason Myers writes regularly about competitive advantage &amp; differentiation and the importance of finding balance in business his blog.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Balance, Competitive Advantage | Differentiation Strategy | Business Owners, Business Blog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Business owner and investor, Mason Myers writes regularly about competitive advantage &amp; differentiation and the importance of finding balance in business his blog.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/internal-external-founder-view.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@masonlmyers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@masonlmyers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mason Myers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/\",\"name\":\"Balance, Competitive Advantage | Differentiation Strategy | Business Owners, Business Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-10T18:14:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-28T20:58:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/efbf4e28b9f46a9b2ae855d03197ab3f\"},\"description\":\"Business owner and investor, Mason Myers writes regularly about competitive advantage & differentiation and the importance of finding balance in business his blog.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Should CEO&#8217;s, Business Owners, Founders Focus Inside or Outside?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/\",\"name\":\"Mason Myers Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/efbf4e28b9f46a9b2ae855d03197ab3f\",\"name\":\"Mason Myers\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87932f33f3b27a6574032d65b17644d1?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87932f33f3b27a6574032d65b17644d1?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mason Myers\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/author\/mason-myers\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Balance, Competitive Advantage | Differentiation Strategy | Business Owners, Business Blog","description":"Business owner and investor, Mason Myers writes regularly about competitive advantage & differentiation and the importance of finding balance in business his blog.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Balance, Competitive Advantage | Differentiation Strategy | Business Owners, Business Blog","twitter_description":"Business owner and investor, Mason Myers writes regularly about competitive advantage & differentiation and the importance of finding balance in business his blog.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/internal-external-founder-view.jpg","twitter_creator":"@masonlmyers","twitter_site":"@masonlmyers","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mason Myers","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/","url":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/","name":"Balance, Competitive Advantage | Differentiation Strategy | Business Owners, Business Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-10T18:14:38+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-28T20:58:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/efbf4e28b9f46a9b2ae855d03197ab3f"},"description":"Business owner and investor, Mason Myers writes regularly about competitive advantage & differentiation and the importance of finding balance in business his blog.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/founders-business-owners-view-inside-or-outsid\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Should CEO&#8217;s, Business Owners, Founders Focus Inside or Outside?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/","name":"Mason Myers Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/efbf4e28b9f46a9b2ae855d03197ab3f","name":"Mason Myers","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87932f33f3b27a6574032d65b17644d1?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87932f33f3b27a6574032d65b17644d1?s=96&r=g","caption":"Mason Myers"},"url":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/author\/mason-myers\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1784"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1797,"href":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784\/revisions\/1797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonmyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}