In the fall of 2007, newly appointed Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang went to Apple CEO Steve Jobs for help in turning the foundering internet giant around. Jobs gave him and Yahoo’s top executives a simple but profound piece of advice. At an off-site meeting with about 200 Yahoo execs, Jobs explained in a presentation that many companies will make a list of 10 things they want to achieve in a year, but “the smart companies will take that list and shrink it to three or four items.”

In the fall of 2007, newly appointed Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang went to Apple CEO Steve Jobs for help in t