“I wish Google cared as much about improving search as they do about being afraid of Facebook. Longer post coming. We need better search.” – Michael Arrington

This recent tweet by TechCrunch founder got me thinking about the very first blog I posted on about the battle (or lack their of), between Google+ and Facebook. I get that Google+ got into the social space to try somewhat improve it’s Search, but I think what Arrington is really trying to get at, is that so many companies forget to focus on what got them to where they are now, they began dispersing resources instead of focusing on their core competencies. Google needs to get back to purely developing the services that make them Google.

We see companies lose sight of the bigger picture by reactively responding to competitive threats, and trying to emulate or counter-act the threat by building out similar functionality or products. You have to look no further than Research in Motion, the company who started the BlackBerry Smartphones. In 2008, they were the #1 smartphone manufacturer in North America, and were world-wide renown in the enterprise environment as the best business side-kick. And now at it’s current place its going to be non-existent in 3 or 4 years. Now, I’m not saying you ignore competitors, but you’ve got to pick your uphill battles and sometimes find downhill battles. In RIM’s case, they needed to find their own identity instead of trying to match Apple’s. They became complacent in their position and developed the motto “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”, and in such a fast paced innovative environment thats a sure way to end up on the losing end. RIM needed to focus on making its email client the best on any smartphone. Focus on BBM and how to make that more social and differential. And as a side thought, let’s be honest, the Blackberry Playbook was a pure competitive play against the Ipad, and its going no where fast.

And this thought process can be extended beyond the business world. Miami Heat coach Eric Spoelstra had this to say about Miami’s anticipated re-match against the Dallas Mavericks (who they lost to in the finals).

“You watch our Christmas Day game compared to the last two games, of the force and pace that we played with that day, it’s night-and-day different,” Spoelstra said. “We can control that. We respect the Dallas Mavericks obviously from last year . . . but right now, out of due respect, it’s about us, it’s about getting to our game, our identity.”

Find your Identity. Stick to Your Game. And Remember What Got you Here!