N

You have arrived at the web home of Noah Brier. This is mostly an archive of over a decade of blogging and other writing. You can read more about me or get in touch. If you want more recent writing of mine, most of that is at my BrXnd marketing x AI newsletter and Why Is This Interesting?, a daily email for the intellectually omnivorous.

June, 2009

Incremental vs Extreme Change

rc3.org quotes from a conversation between Malcolm Gladwel and Bill Simmons (which I haven't read). This portion of Gladwell's quote really intrigued me:
The [full court basketball] press doesn't guarantee victory. It simply represents the underdog's best chance of victory. It raises their odds from zero to maybe 50-50. I think, in fact, that you can argue that a pressing team is always going to have real difficulty against a truly elite team. But so what? Everyone, regardless of how they play, is going to have real difficulty against truly elite teams. It's not a strategy for being the best. It's a strategy for being better.
I have this conversation often with my friend Justin: Business strategy is not a zero-sum game. I think a lot of companies go out of business trying to find their silver bullet instead of just diversifying their revenue streams and ultimately building something stronger. As a culture we tend to value extreme change over incremental change, regardless of the costs associated.
June 2, 2009
©
Noah Brier | Thanks for reading. | Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk.