Focus — or Drop?

The story: Focus on the subjects that really matter. Okay. Then the report card arrived: three absences — all Geography. Why did you skip Geography? You said to focus. She meant prioritise — spend more energy on the important ones. He heard eliminate — cut the ones that don't make the list. She wanted better allocation. He gave her a binary filter.

What it means for organisations: "Focus" is the most dangerous strategy word precisely because it sounds decisive. But focus contains two completely different instructions: do more of what matters, or stop doing what doesn't. When leadership tells teams to focus, some people sharpen their priorities. Others abandon entire workstreams. The word feels like clarity. It produces the opposite — unless someone defines whether focus means concentrate or cut.