“Decide One Thing” by Dave Ramos

Kathryn Chmura: What is the premise of your book?

Dave Ramos: “For those of you who have not read Decide One Thing yet, I’ll summarize it in one sentence:
Winning companies have a clear, compelling Differentiating Competitive Advantage (DCA).
While they may seem obvious, most companies are completely undifferentiated.  They look alike, sound alike, and act alike.
In addition, most are sadly mediocre.  They dabble in lots of things, but never become great at anything.
Undifferentiated mediocrity is not a formula for long-term success.
So, the One Thing every executive team must decide is, “How are you going to differentiate your company?””

Kathryn Chmura: What was the driving force behind becoming an author?

Dave Ramos: Shortly after I started my company, I was having breakfast with Ken Thornton, a retired IBM senior executive and a member of the SHIFTPOINTS Advisory Board, soliciting his advice about how to build the business.

“Dave- you need to develop a methodology, and you need to write a book.”

It took me several years, but eventually I did both. I’ve now published two books: Shift Points and Decide One Thing. I’m working hard to finish the next one, which will be called Drive One Direction.

Kathryn Chmura: What inspired you to write “Decide One Thing”?

Dave Ramos: The One Thing concept originated from our work with a startup that raised almost $1 million of “friends and family” money. Flush with cash and bravado, they set out to conquer the world.

So far so good. All great companies have big dreams and bold visions.

However, this company decided to attack about a dozen different markets. All at once.

We advised them over and over to focus on One Market. “It is better to dominate One Market than dabble in a dozen of them.” Unfortunately, they never listened. They squandered their money and eventually went bankrupt.

Their failure became the inspiration for this book.

Kathryn Chmura: Please share a story of how this book has impacted an executive, team, or organization and made a difference in their success.

Dave Ramos: Since starting the company, we have worked with dozens of companies in fifteen different industries.

Our best client has quadrupled in size. Several have tripled or doubled. One is in the Inc. 5000 Hall of Fame. Several have won Best Places to Work awards.

Our clients are small to medium size companies. In most cases, they engage us because their growth has plateaued. So, we developed a three-part methodology to help them break that plateau.

The Decide One Thing process helps companies create a clear and compelling point of differentiation. The Drive One Direction organizational transformation process creates strategic alignment. And finally, our Deliver Every Time process improves marketing, sales and customer experience.

Together, these three steps produce “trajectory-altering results.”

Kathryn Chmura: What have you found to be the most challenging areas of development for executives to grasp?

Dave Ramos: We start every engagement by interviewing the executive team. We always start with the same question. “How do you differentiate your company?” Most executives struggle to answer that simple question. More troubling, however, is how often executives from the same company give us different answers. How can you win if your executive team can’t even agree on your source of competitive differentiation?

Kathryn Chmura: Can you share some advice for leaders who are developing and building companies?

Dave Ramos: Dabbling never wins!

Kathryn Chmura: What energizes you outside of work?

Dave Ramos: Twice a day, I take my dogs on a two-mile hike. It’s the only time I’m ever away from my iPhone. I find the time in the woods to be peaceful, therapeutic, and deeply spiritual.

Kathryn Chmura: What is something unique about you that you would like to share with us?

Dave Ramos: I’m good at lots of things, but I’m working to become differentiatingly great at my One Thing!