Seth Godin reminds us that saying "That's not what we do" (with an understanding of why -- more than just because you never did) is the backbone of strategy, one day after a nice New York Times article about a new media outlet doing exactly that.
On The Texas Tribune's second day of operation, big news broke in their back yard, when a shooting left thirteen people dead at Fort Hood. Tribune staffer Elise Hu described the scene in their offices:
We were all sitting around talking excitedly about what we were going to do with it. And then you could see Matt [Stiles] was about to blow his stack.
You see, the Tribune is not, and was not intended to be, a general news outlet. Their mission is specific: to report on the politics and policy of Texas state government. So kudos to the Tribune for being willing to say, "that's not what we do." I wish more organizations had their discipline!
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