Beverly Sills, America’s best known opera soprano, died yesterday and I was struck by a quote she made during a past New York Times interview.

“I always had a theory that people became a superstar because they could do one thing better than anybody else in the world,” she said. “I think there was an aria in Julius Caesar called ‘Se Pieta,’ and I used to think I sung that aria better than anybody.”

I love that notion – now think about your business. What one thing can you claim to do better than your competition, better than anyone else in the world. You’ve probably got to shed trying to be all things and strip your business down to doing just one thing better than anyone else.

Maybe you already do one thing, maybe you need to figure your one thing out – either way, narrow the focus of your communication to something you can claim to own and own it.

Seth Godin talks about this very thing in his newest book, The Dip.