Apple focuses by saying no to some markets. A good example of where strategy and execution go hand in hand. Steve Jobs participated in Apple’s earnings announcement this week, something he doesn’t often do. Perhaps he’s doing this to make sure that despite the concerns around the health of the economy there’s no reason for anyone to worry about his health. Nonetheless, it’s during tough times that good leaders step up and overcommunicate. Customers, investors, and especially employees need to hear from leaders, even if the message is just “we’re staying the course.” One of the interesting things in Jobs’ earnings Q&A session is that he reiterated Apple’s strategy of staying out of the low-end market, despite occasional rumors to the contrary.What we want to do is deliver an increasing level of value to these customers, but there are some customers which we choose not to serve. We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk; our DNA will not let us do that. We’ve seen great success by focusing on certain segments of the market and not trying to be everything to everybody, and you can expect us to stick with that winning strategy.It’s a good example of how Jobs sets a clear strategy for the company and then gets people to execute around it. Apple’s products kick ass in many markets because they don’t try to be all things to all people. Not only does that make it easy to position Apple products in the market, it eliminates a whole class of internal debates and back and forth that happens when a company doesn’t have a clear strategy. So if you want to have focused execution, make sure you are clear about what you’re doing and, equally important, what you’re not doing. Too many tech companies just can’t stand to say no to some potential market no matter how unlikely. So they build products that attempt to be all things to all people. Needless to say, most of the time these products never really hit the mark for anyone. Much better to be clearly focused on the needs of a specific well-identified target market. By focusing, you’ll be able to better target the needs of your customer and communicate with them more effectively. But it does require the discipline to say no to things that are beyond the scope. Open Source