𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭...𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐈𝐭 𝐈𝐬𝐧'𝐭

The most efficient company in your industry may also be the most fragile. It just doesn't know it yet.

Reliability feels like pure progress: fewer errors, lower cost, smoother output. 𝘼𝙄 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙣𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧. It accelerates that momentum, because a model trained on the past is a machine for reproducing whatever already worked.

Roger Martin named this trap years ago in The Design of Business. Reliability keeps repeating the answer that worked. Validity finds the answer the new situation actually needs. 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙫𝙨 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. The simplification that makes a system consistent strips out the variety it needs on the day the world stops resembling yesterday.

The bigger danger sits one level higher. When every rival relies on models trained on the same past, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙠, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙮𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩. Everyone bends the same way, then everyone snaps on the same day.

This is why the 𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙮 we race to automate away 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠.

The spare capacity, the backup supplier, the person who knows things no dashboard ever logged. That is not waste. It is optionality, an insurance policy that pays out only when the world breaks.

Slack looks foolish, wasteful on a spreadsheet, right up until the moment it saves the business.

A model built on the past also behaves like an incumbent. It perfects its mastery of the market you already serve and stays blind to the one forming next. The company that 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙨 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 does more than survive the shock. It sees the opening first and acts while others are still assessing it.

So stop optimizing the last ten percent for its own sake.

Efficiency handles the normal day, but a bet on the unproven handles the rare one that actually counts.

#Leadership #ArtificialIntelligence #Strategy #Resilience #Innovation

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bruno.gentil@sherpaconsultingasia.com

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