Maximizing Optionality

It is important to ensure that except for a life partner one is not so dependent on a single platform company supplier or approach that we lose agency over our future choicesOptionality also matters across a range of areas in order to remain competitiveStrategy and OptionalityIf strategy is amp8220future competitive advantageamp8221 and the future is hard to see we need to ensure we have the flexibility to adapt to circumstances and new dataA case can be made that many leaders and firms including many in the amp8220legacyamp8221 media business found themselves either too reliant on a single platform eg Google or Meta or Apple or too addicted to the margins from the existing business model they did not invest in a plan B to rethink their business model until it was too lateVery often they limited their competitive set to their existing category and thus limiting their options in seeing future threats or future opportunitiesIf one does not have a choice one cannot make strategic movesTiming and OptionalityWhile being too early in implementing a strategy is sometimes the same as being wrong being late is almost always wrong because business models first erode slowly but then suddenly and within months an existing model is no longer profitable or new competition has been allowed to establish strong footholdsMinimize time on task forcesMaximize time on tasksTasks that allow for development of minimum viable products proof of concepts and ways to get teams and organizations moving in the direction of tomorrow Ways to stress and test the system and allow time for the analog reality of culture and slowness of people to adaptErr in the direction of speed to maximize optionsThese days it is not speed that kills but the lack of speed that killsCareer and OptionalityA case can be made that talent who have options are more likely to be loyalWhile this sounds counter intuitive it is notThe best leaders and best companies build and grow talent so that a they are constantly becoming more valuable in the marketplace b better known in the marketplace and c have many firms trying to recruit themThis increases both the success of the firm and the loyalty of the employee for three reasonsa If one is not growing oneamp8217s talent to be the best in the industry how will a company be best in the industry And if talent is growing to be at the top of their game they are less likely to leaveb If oneamp8217s talent is well known in the marketplace they attract both Clients and the next generation of talent who realize that the firm is allowing them to grow their brand and their worth as they grow the firmamp8217s reputation and growthc Being well regarded and constantly building skills allows talent to handle the setbacks that come with oneamp8217s career without having to quit since they know they are held in esteem and therefore have options If oneamp8217s market value continues to increase in the firm one is working at why go anywhere elseCompanies do not transform and grow People doThus firms that help people grow and transform themselves and let them celebrate and promote these achievements end up with the greatest optionality in recruiting and retaining people to adapt to transformative timesThe best wants to work with the best Winners with winners Company growth and personal career and brand growth are intertwinedModern Talent Mindset and OptionalityIn the US 66 percent of GenZ who have a fulltime job have a side gig or side hustle with which they make money This is due to some combination of needing extra income to make ends meet and building expertise to ensure they have future options and to ensure optionality of income and therefore choiceSeventysix percent want to work for themselves if they can because after the shocks of the Great Recession Covid Tech job meltdown threat of AI they no longer want to outsource their future to a firmSo as companies try to figure out how to leverage AI to become more productive either through cost cutting or enhanced products and services leadership and boardrooms need to remember that talent is simultaneously thinking about how AI increases their optionsHere are some questions that management and talent need to consider regarding their future options in an AI worlda Who captures the productivity gains If AI creates productivity gains why will talent not decide to use the AI tools they are very inexpensive and today more used by talent than companies so that it benefits them in either working less or asking for more compensation for their increased productivity What makes companies believe that AI productivity will go to shareholders and the bottom line and not to the talent that uses these tools to become more productive Threatening people with job loss turbocharges their plotting on optionalityb What is the benefit of seniority Since AI makes knowledge free and some folks at Google believes it will make intelligence free it lessens the advantage of many types of seniority for a couple of reasons First the rules of the game change and so knowing the old rules are no longer an advantage Second legacy knowledge is now easily available and it will not take lawyers or consultants as long to make partnerc What is the benefit of scale Scale matters and has always mattered but increasingly modern tech and AI is providing many benefits of scale to small companies and the individual We are likely to see many billiondollar companies with a total of less than a hundred employeesThe modern mindset is to reconsider all options including what are the new options to eliminate scale advantages or create new scale advantagesHow best to train and deal with tenure when companies are likely to pay less for knowledge but more for intuition insight imagination and ideasHow to rethink employment and benefits in a modern AI workplaceAdaptation will be critical and maximizing optionality will be the key to adaptationPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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