The Focus Fallacy: The Deep Dive

This week Alex and Emily tackle one of the most deceptive blind spots in leadership: The Focus Fallacy. 

What makes this one so dangerous? It doesn’t target leaders who don’t understand focus. It targets the ones who think they’ve got it figured out. The executives who’ve read all the strategy books. Who can quote Michael Porter in their sleep.Who preach that saying no is the essence of good strategy. 

And yet somehow, they end up leading organizations where everyone nods along to the idea that they’re “focused on a lot of things”, which is, of course, nonsense. That’s the opposite of focus. 

Alex and Emily explore how focus doesn’t erode in one dramatic moment. It creeps. One reasonable exception at a time. One “strategic alignment” at a time. One good idea you couldn’t say no to. 

They dig into why alignment and focus aren’t the same thing, even though they feel identical from the inside. Why consensus can actually be the enemy of clarity. And why the leaders most vulnerable to this blind spot are often the ones who pride themselves on being collaborative and supportive. 

Along the way, they unpack powerful examples: Nokia versus Toyota, Apple’s near-death experience in 1997, and the Bain research showing that eighty percent of sustained value creators were built around a single core business. 

Plus, they share the diagnostic questions to figure out if the Focus Fallacy has quietly crept into your own leadership. Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: if you have to pause and count your real priorities right now, not the number in the board deck, the actual number, the fallacy might have already found you.