Visionaries Only

Photo by Ran Bercovich

The other day I was describing our ideal client organization as “visionary”. I think I really meant that the leadership of the organization needs to be visionary, meaning at least one or two key leaders in particular have their hair on fire about the transformative role technology can play — and must play — in both their present and their future.

Because it does take a leader with real vision to grasp what a complete game-changer a thriving platforms ecosystem would be for every single thing their organization does. And then to hit the gas pedal decisively enough to get there.

We’re trying to do something different here. We sometimes debate whether we’re a technology firm or an organizational development firm, or something else entirely. Our tools and our focus are certainly technology systems.

But our game isn’t technology for technology’s sake. Our game is using technology to power organizations to entirely new heights in everything they do. Of course I can hear how that sounds overstated. All I can say is that it’s not. It’s what actually happens for the organizations who are ambitious enough to see this as a possible future and lean into it.

The vast majority of organizational leaders aren’t even asking for that. Not yet. They don’t even know it’s possible because they’ve never seen anything like it, nor heard of peers doing it. It’s just not an option on the radar.

Instead, they’re generally looking for a firm to help with Salesforce, or help with a website, or help with integrating or consolidating multiple systems. That’s all fine, and 99.9% of the firms in the market are set up to service that. Doing that is also a lot cheaper and easier than the kind of comprehensive leaning-in that I’m talking about.

But do you really expect that smaller targeted project you’re considering to be a game-changer for your organization? Probably not. More likely you expect it to just get you to a more decent place where you are less comprehensively held back than you are now. Hopefully it moves the needle, likely not by all that much.

A visionary leader would be peering ahead into the future and then working backwards to understand the urgency of their current moment. They would realize that their organization is currently operating at a fraction of its potential in terms of capacity, reach, effectiveness, and insight. Most organizations are in this position. If you’re one of the few who are not, then you already know it.

A visionary leader would imagine the kind of power and reach it would give their organization if they had a thriving platform ecosystem – a healthy, active central nervous system for their organization – that they could actually trust. That would allow every staff member to eliminate wasted effort, and busy work, and instead channel their true talent and potential. That would give everyone trusted insight and metrics about how things are working, allowing you to ask strategic questions, get answers, and make adjustments in response. That would allow everyone to spot new opportunities and pursue new ideas quickly in response to the ever-changing landscape you’re facing.

Imagine every single member of your talented and resourceful staff buckling into a seat on a futuristic spaceship. Each seat is finely-tuned to that person’s unique daily work and goals and mission. Every lever and button is exactly where they need it. Less wasted effort, more effectiveness, more information, more innovation. It’s a talent-enabling, turbocharging machine.

Is it any wonder that your entire operation would start traveling light years faster?

Look, it’s a valid choice to keep doing one-off technology projects. Most organizations are going that route. I sincerely wish them luck that those projects are helpful in their journeys.

But the visionaries are after a different level entirely. They’re aiming for an entirely different stratosphere of orbit. Does that sound impossible? It’s actually very possible. But you have to know that’s where you want to go, and why it matters. Because it’s the orbit where tomorrow’s winners will be found.