Leader Analysis

Is there such a thing as a winning issue in business? I believe there is. A winning issue is the central market force, trend, or opportunity that—if seized early and pursued relentlessly—can propel a company ahead of its competitors.

Nvidia grew into a $4 trillion company by betting on artificial intelligence before most others. Taiwan’s chip makers advanced manufacturing technology at the exact moment global demand exploded. In both cases, leadership recognized the defining force in their industry, kept a constant eye on the competitive environment, and committed resources to dominating that space.

It might seem like luck but it wasn’t. It’s the product of a CEO’s most important skill: seeing the environment clearly and focusing the business on the right issue before anyone else does.

Reading Threats Before They Hit

Threats are inevitable and so it matters how leaders respond—and that response depends on whether they’ve been paying attention to the environment all along.

Consider Polarn O. Pyret, a Swedish children’s clothing brand with a franchise in the US. Facing US tariffs on goods sourced from China, the company decided to pull out of the market. The threat was real, but the decision suggests leaders hadn’t prepared the company to adapt. Rather than tariffs making the company vulgarly, they expose weaknesses that already existed in the business. The brand’s narrow niche—outdoor clothing for children in “forest schools”—limited its ability to pivot.

Contrast that with McDonald’s. Its core customers are low-income earners, currently under economic strain. Instead of cutting back, McDonald’s doubled down on communicating value to the customers and adapting menus to maintain appeal. They recognized the threat but also understood the environment well enough to see opportunities within it.

And then there’s Six Flags Entertainment, which has faced declining attendance. Its primary response? Selling land to shore up finances. That may improve the balance sheet in the short term, but it reveals a lack of ideas for reigniting demand. Leaders who lose touch with their environment often resort to retrenchment instead of reinvention.

Fixing Weaknesses Before They Become Fatal

Threats gain power when they exploit weaknesses leaders have ignored. An effective CEO identifies vulnerabilities early and takes action before external forces magnify them.

This starts with a mindset. Leaders who let the environment dictate their fate—rather than shaping their position within it—are already on the back foot. A strong CEO reads the landscape constantly, knowing both the internal state of the company and the external forces acting on it.

Look again at the beer industry in the U.S. Consumption is declining, and aluminum prices are rising. A CEO who tracks these trends closely won’t simply wait for a rebound. They’ll experiment with new products—healthier beverages, customizable options—before competitors capture that territory.

The point is simple: if you don’t address weaknesses proactively, you’ll be forced to do so under pressure, when your options are fewer and your competitors are better prepared.

Spotting Opportunities First

A winning issue is, at its core, an opportunity recognized before others see it—and pursued with clarity and commitment.

Nvidia’s bet on AI was a deliberate alignment of talent, capital, and partnerships toward a single defining issue. Taiwan’s chip makers did the same by scaling production capacity and technology just as global demand surged.

Opportunities require more than vision—they demand speed. Tesla’s push into self-driving technology contrasts sharply with traditional automakers that seem to follow government incentives more than market signals. Meanwhile, Chinese carmakers are reading their market well, producing affordable, feature-rich vehicles that sell domestically and abroad.

The leaders winning these battles aren’t just lucky. They’re tuned into their environment, filtering constant noise to spot the forces that matter most—and then moving decisively.

Protecting Core Strengths

Finding a winning issue is only half the job. Once you’ve staked your claim, you need to protect the strengths that make it possible to win.

TSMC understands this. The Taiwanese chip giant’s competitive edge lies in proprietary manufacturing processes. When leaders discovered employees engaging in suspicious activity, they acted immediately to secure critical information. In a market where competitors would do anything to access that knowledge, protecting it is non-negotiable.

This principle extends beyond technology. James MacGregor Burns, in his work on leadership, described how Franklin D. Roosevelt maintained political advantage by constantly gathering and analyzing information about public opinion. In business, the same discipline applies. A CEO who keeps a steady stream of market intelligence can adjust faster, defend competitive advantages, and keep the company aligned with its winning issue.

The CEO’s Core Responsibility

Everything comes back to focus and clarity.

A CEO’s primary responsibility is not simply to run operations or hit quarterly targets. It’s to identify the winning issue in their industry and mobilize the entire organization around it. Doing that well requires a clear, ongoing view of the environment:

• Scan constantly for emerging forces—technological, political, economic, and cultural.
• Filter ruthlessly to separate noise from the trends that will truly reshape the market.
• Decide early which trend the company can own.
• Align completely—people, capital, and processes—around exploiting that advantage.
• Protect relentlessly the strengths that keep the advantage in place.

When leaders operate this way, they’re not just reacting to the environment; they’re shaping their position within it.

Conclusion

The most successful companies don’t grow by accident. They win because their leaders identify the right issue to focus on and never lose sight of the environment shaping it. Nvidia’s embrace of AI and Taiwan’s chip makers’ mastery of manufacturing show how foresight, clarity, and disciplined execution can turn trends into lasting advantages.

For CEOs, the mandate is clear: choose your winning issue, understand the forces around it, and build the strengths to dominate it. In a business world where threats are constant and opportunities fleeting, clarity of focus and clarity of environment are the ultimate competitive edge.