Effective leadership focus is the differentiation!

Usually, buying a computer is instant—you pay and take it home. It’s a far less appealing deal when you’re expected to pay in full today for a machine that won't arrive at your door for another two months.

The year was 1995.

This was a bitter pill for the sales team to swallow. We were already fighting a tough battle against competitors, and this new restriction made it feel like our own leadership was standing in the way of every deal.

They doubled down on that decision for the next few quarters and ensured all new sales followed through—100%, no exceptions.

They forgo sales. They let go of goodwill.

They even asked the sales team to recover past dues from customers.

There was only ONE leadership focus. Generate cash!

The ability to fathom all your resources to a single goal is FOCUS

A happy ending!

Three months hence!

I arrived at their office by 4 p.m., only to be met with a surprising question: Was my company still interested in the order they had previously turned down?

When I asked what had changed, they explained that our competitor had failed to deliver on their promises. Just like that, the lost deal was back on the table.

Leadership focus matters

When I look back, this was one of many decisions the company made at the time, which, in hindsight, were perhaps existential.

Leadership backed their team by making it acceptable to lose a deal over payment terms. This shift highlighted a fundamental truth: a company must be profitable to support its customers and employees alike. Sometimes, the most prudent path is the hardest one, requiring total clarity of mission to ensure the organization's long-term survival.

Three companies held complete dominance in the Indian computer hardware market in the mid-nineties. Only one company survived.