Agility

What Does That Mean to You?

Today is the first day of October.  The first day of the last quarter of the year.  The quarter that typically inspires the all out sprint to hit and or surpass your numbers.  And, the time when planning for the next year ensues.  

While I should be planning and forecasting like everyone else, I find myself focused on helping to reinvent one company that is dealing with education marketing that started in 1636 and helping another to hit hyperspeed on its pathway to disrupting the executive recruiting category that started in 1926.  

Each company was created by an entrepreneur who saw a problem and decided to build a solution to solve that problem.  One company is now 10 years running and the competitive market caught up with the first mover advantage.   The other company is very young in its development and seeking changemakers who are looking for a competitive edge to gain that unfair advantage. 

AGILITY

The thing I love about what I do is the discovery that leads to learning and validates or challenges a hypothesis.  I stumbled upon (which by the way was the name of an amazing startup Stumble Upon back in the early ‘00’s) a well crafted Substack - Talent Intelligence Collective by Toby Culshaw that really hit a few nerves. (and with a name like Toby - I felt right at home). 

In an article about Redefining Business Agility for the 21st-century CEO, Toby wrote about “agility” of a Talent Nexus concept in this context: 

“But agility isn't just about speed - it's about innovation at the pace of thought. In industries where innovation is the lifeblood of success, CEOs are constantly seeking ways to accelerate ideation and development.”

He goes on to talk about: 

“This isn't just about filling roles; it's about architecting innovation into the very fabric of your organization, allowing you to stay ahead of market trends and shareholder expectations.”

It just so happens that, several years ago, I designed a strategic narrative for a video streaming platform that was innovating solutions that delivered video streams at 150 milliseconds or less (undetectable to the human eye).  After some additional digging, I discovered that 150 milliseconds is the scientific definition of the “speed of thought”. 

It is the time it takes for us to react to something.  Like Usain Bolt’s response time to a starter’s pistol or the time it takes for a batter to decide to swing at a 100 mph fastball.  As well as for a thought to pop into your head upon seeing or reading something. 

With AI, AGI, and GAI all coming together seemingly at once, how will we learn to incorporate this idea of “speed of thought” into our systems and response times as a way of existence going forward? 

UNFAIR SHARE OF MARKET

We live in a speed to market game.  Wall Street rewards speed to market wins with algorithms that arbitrage gaps in milliseconds.  Customers reward speed to market solutions when they get an immediate answer to their inquiry.  Yet, speed for the sake of speed is not what Toby was speaking about.  He is speaking about integrating “real-time strategic decisions” into companies that were designed in a fixed and variable decision-making capacity. 

A design more in keeping with yesteryear’s industrial complex making.  He proposes that the very structure of an organization needs to become more liquid in context, and more adaptable to immediate market inputs and streams of conditions that can lead to sizable market share advantages before the competition can respond. 

This reality is why the Magnificent Seven continue to reshape the legacy industries - like the one I grew up in - the media world.  The game has changed and is now accelerating into a new evolution that will disrupt the players that shaped every industry as we know it. 

I also stumbled upon this speech today by Sundar Pichai at Carnegie Mellon about The AI Platform Shift and its wide-reaching impact across every industry.  

So, I ask you, what does “agility” mean to you and your organization? 

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NOW (How you are realizing this today)

1. What forms of agility have you enabled in your workflow? 

2. How are you incorporating AI into your conscious efforts to reinvent yourself and your business?

3. Are you paying attention?    

NEW (How you will realize this tomorrow)

1. I will benchmark AI native companies in my space to understand what is happening.

2. I will lean into the Product roadmap discussions about how we compare to the benchmarks? 

3. I will attend as many AI conferences as possible between now and the New Year.  

NEXT (I see a world in which) 

I see a world in which agility will become one of the most important fundamental assets for both individuals and companies in this decade.     

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THE PAYOFF

"Agile leaders lead teams, non-agile ones manage tasks."

~ Jim Highsmith, Agile Methodology Pioneer

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If you are seeking a way to optimize your Now New Next, book a free consultation with me, and let's consider the possibilities.  My work has raised a collective $1B+ for the companies I have worked with over the last 10 years.  And, I have helped dozens of companies and executives to find their narrative voice.