What’s your one move?

I talk about 1,000s of start-up companies doing one thing brilliantly well, and was looking for an anecdote that might help me talk about this better .... and found one. It goes like this:

A ten-year-old boy decided to study judo, despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.

The boy began lessons with an old judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn’t understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.

“Sensei,” the boy finally said, “Shouldn’t I be learning more moves?”

“This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever need to know,” the sensei replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.

Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.

This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Eventually however, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.

On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.

“Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?”

“You won for two reasons,” the sensei answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grip your left arm.”

The boy’s biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

The reason I’m sharing this here is that I keep talking about banks changing cultures, becoming marketplaces, curating FinTech partners and offering a platform for inclusion of all. This is a very hard cultural change and the critical factor in all of this is recognising the banks’ core competence. What is the thing that your bank does really well? Is it product, process or people? Are you a great manufacturer, processor or retailer?

Work out what you’re really good at … and drop the rest.

This is tough. After all, most banks think they have to do everything for everyone. But my argument is what’s your one move? What is your core competency? Focus just on that one thing and drop the rest. Let others do the rest. Just focus upon your one best move.

Just a thought.