“We wanted them to focus outward. . .”

“To set aspirations properly, it is important to understand who you are winning with and against. It is therefore important to be thoughtful about the business you’re in, your customers, and your competitors. We asked P& G’s businesses to focus on winning with those who matter most and against the very best. We wanted them to focus outward on their most important consumers and very best competitors, rather than inward on their own products and innovations. Most companies, if you ask them what business they’re in, will tell you what their product line is or will detail their service offering. Many handheld phone manufacturers, for example, would say they are in the business of making smartphones. They would not likely say that they are in the business of connecting people and enabling communication any place, any time. But that is the business they are actually in—and a smartphone is just one way to accomplish that.

Or think of a skin-care company. It is far more likely to say it makes a line of skin-care products than to say it is in the business of helping women have healthier, younger-looking skin or helping women feel beautiful. It’s a subtle difference, but an important one. The former descriptions are examples of marketing myopia, something economist Theodore Levitt identified a half-century ago and a danger that is alive and well today. Companies in the grips of marketing myopia are blinded by the products they make and are unable to see the larger purpose or true market dynamics.”