Leading, Speed, and Scale

I’m just back from leading a session on navigating turbulent times with a group of entertainment industry executives. I can’t share details as there was a cone of silence over the proceedings. However, I had one insight that’s safe to share. It’s drawn from the impressive inventiveness of the companies represented: the pace of change relative to the pace of experimentation.

It’s no surprise that change is everywhere, and that more things seem to be changing faster than ever.  While there are many sources upending traditional practices, the tumultuous past year has been fueled by the rollout of various generative AI tools that hold the potential to disrupt seemingly everything. It made change visible and the velocity palpable.

When things are changing rapidly, you have to experiment equally quickly in order to know where, when, and how to direct your own change efforts. Emphasize hypotheses over assumptions. Push the envelope. Anticipate and adapt. Sense and respond.

The inability or willingness to experiment results in being stuck playing defense around legacy offerings and operating models. Insufficient resources to allocate to innovation renders one at subscale for future-readiness, a certain death spiral of decreasing relevance. Faster and faster, they get smarter as you get dumber.

As I contemplate my own field of graduate and executive education, I think about how wedded we still are to a traditional classroom, time blocks, and delivery methods when short-form video on TikTok and YouTube are redefining expectations. Gens Z and Alpha are spending more and more time in online gaming environments with distinct norms for competition, collaboration and communication. High resolution technology and flexible materials are enabling immersive sensory environments. And yet we hold tight to a largely passive, scripted, low tech experience and wonder why engagement is elusive.

This is not to suggest that there is no value in old models. A classroom experience can still be magic, yet it will increasingly need to be part of “multi-channel engagement” that embraces emerging modalities. I hate the jargon, too, but it aptly describes the new terrain.

It’s challenging because of the financial investment in legacy infrastructure and the psychic investment curricula, slide decks, and bureaucratic procedures. A conspiracy of the past often frustrates the future.

Not every experiment will succeed. Nor should it. Every experiment is, however, a chance to challenge and learn. That, to me, is the real value. Whereas one could once engage in such an exercise every few years, it feels now that the cadence must be months or weeks. Companies such as Amazon and Netflix are running thousands of experiments each day. The mantra from my early career in direct marketing, “always be testing,” now applies to leading and wide swaths of other practice areas.

I guess that many other professions are in similar circumstances. Unless you are in tech or another sector where innovation is the norm, risk aversion and a belief that old ways are good enough discourages experimentation… and inches one closer to extinction.

As a leader, do you encourage experimentation? How do you recognize and reward learning? This newsletter is one of my experiments. What are yours?

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