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At many companies, the minimum viable product (MVP) mindset has become gospel. Two-week sprints and move fast, break things slogans keep teams iterating, but they can also trap organizations in a cycle of incrementalismproducing updates that are safe but forgettable. No surprise, then, that the Product Development and Management Association reports roughly 40% of product launches still flopusually because they half-solve the problem or under-delight the user. In study after study, executives acknowledge a frustrating gap: many of their offerings are just good enough to compete, even though they recognize that true differentiation is what drives long-term profit and loyalty. We approach this challenge from both the studio and the boardroom, and weve learned from artists that good enough is an efficiency metric; its great enough, an emotional metric, that we should be measuring instead. Artists know the human reaction is the real brief we are shipping. Businesses that adopt this mindset transform productivity into resonance. The best founders already practice this form of disciplined obsession. Just look at iconic leaders like Walt Disney, Dr. Edwin Land at Polaroid, Steve Jobs at Apple, or Brian Chesky at Airbnb, for example. All of them echo what light-and-space pioneer artist Robert Irwin demanded of his own work: it must read all the way throughfront, back, and the parts no one sees.” Thats the leap from MVP to masterpiece. The antidote to good enough isnt reckless perfectionism or feature bloat: its disciplined obsession. The resolve to push beyond 80% because the final 20% is where usefulness becomes wonder, and customers become fans. Obsession in action Across industries, from consumer electronics to rock concert logistics, breakthroughs consistently appear where teams refuse to settle for almost. Just take these cases where disciplined focus can reshape markets, protect lives, and even rewrite scientific understanding. James Dyson cycled through 5,127 prototypes before perfecting cyclone suction. Each failure exposed a flaw that a good-enough model would have hidden, and today Dyson dominates the premium vacuum segment. Apples Power Mac G4 Cube failed to gain traction at retail, but its fanless cooling and transparent shell laid the groundwork for the design DNA of future iMacs and Mac minis. A costly misstep became a down payment on aesthetic leadership. Van Halens no brown M&Ms clause signaled whether promoters read every line of the safety rider. When the candies showed up, the crew insisted on reinspecting the rigging, an obsessive detail that likely averted catastrophe. In Tonys biotech career, a Phase II trial that missed its endpoint was celebrated, not buried. Mining the data exposed a biomarker that later earned breakthrough-therapy statusproof that failure can be the fastest route to discovery. Different domains, same lesson: the last mile, pursued with rigor, create the leap from adequate to iconic. How to Decide When Obsession Might Pay Off Obsession can fuel excellence or waste months in blind alleys. Heres a litmus test you can apply to see if you are on the right track: Mission-critical or cosmetic? Suction loss in a vacuum is core; the bevel on a handle may not be. Learning or polishing? Each iteration should teach something new; if youre merely burnishing vanity, stop. Will customers notice and pay for the difference? Leica buyers pay for 1% sharper images; paper-towel shoppers wont. Answer yes to all three, and you have a case for a disciplined obsession. How the FOCUS Framework Can Help Creative Breakthroughs In his work with clients, Nir often begins by asking them to bring an object they love, such as a vintage camera, a jazz record, or a battered field watch. Then, he asks them to unpack it: Why does it move you? The answers go beyond function. It’s the heft of the lens, the warmth of analog tone, the weathered patina that tells a story. What surfaces is a powerful insight: the things we love most are often engineered with invisible care. The quality we feel isnt polishits integrity. Once thats understood, good enough begins to feel like a meaningful personal compromise. With this emotional imprint anchored, we introduce FOCUS, our five-part framework for transforming passion into disciplined progress. Frame the nonnegotiable. Name the hill youre willing to die onzero suction loss, five-minute onboarding, or sub-four-second load. This clarity prevents perfectionism from becoming misdirection. Observe edge failures early. Dont wait for scale to see what breaks. Stress-test assumptions with chaos monkeys, red teaming, or real-world extremes from the outset. Capture lessons continuously. Log everything. Iterations that fail one product might spark another. Dysons abandoned cyclone sketches now power its hand-dryers and hair toolsproof that diligent note-keeping multiplies value. Use guardrails. Time-box your obsessions. Define a success metric, test threshold, or insight plateau that signals when to pivot or ship. Share openly. Make learnings public. At Etsy, engineers write postmortems with vulnerability and clarity, turning setbacks into shared wisdom. When Good Enough Really Is Enough Obsession is a scalpel, not a hammer. During the COVID-19 pandemic, good-enough vaccine doses saved millions; waiting for perfect data would have cost lives. In fintech for the unbanked, accessibility beats interface polish. The art is knowing when incremental gains change outcomes and when speed or reach matter more. So pose this question at your next sprint review: Where are we settling for workable when users crave wonderful? If the gap solves a pivotal pain point, grant a Dyson-level runwaythen let FOCUS guardrails protect timelines and morale. When organizations combine disciplined obsession with artistic intent, they dont just out-iterate competitors; they create visceral, memorable experiences that define business artistry. In a sea of sameness, passable products vanish. The obsessively honed few become unforgettable. When the problem matters and each iteration deepens insight, disciplined obsession isnt wasteful; its the fastest route to extrordinary.
Category:
E-Commerce
Not long ago, I sat across from a senior leader who proudly described the culture of transparency he believed he had built. My door is always open, he said. I tell my team I want the truth, even when its hard. Later that afternoon, I spoke with one of his direct reports. She paused when I asked her what it was like to work for him. He says he wants the truth, she said quietly, but the moment we challenge him or bring up a concern, he gets defensive or shuts the conversation down. So weve all just stopped trying. Hes not a bad guy. Hes better than a lot of bosses around here. But he doesnt want the truth the way he claims to. She wasnt angry. Worse, she was resigned to the fact thats just who he was. And she wasnt alone. The team had learned that what their leader said and what he actually did didnt match. His open door had become symbolic of a broader disconnectand trust was eroding fast. The leader didnt see the gap. He genuinely believed he was creating a safe space. But his behavior told another story. And thats the thing about saydo gaps: were often the last to know we have them. What do you do when your words and actions dont match? Most leaders dont wake up in the morning intending to be dishonest. But every time we make a promise we dont keep, fudge a number to hit a target, or stay silent in a moment that demands courage, we open what I call a saydo gapthe space between what we say we value and what we actually do. It may feel small in the moment. Harmless, even. But these gaps come at a steep cost. In my 15-year longitudinal study analyzing over 3,200 interviews across more than 200 organizations, my team and I discovered that when employees perceive misalignment between their leaders words and actions, they are three times more likely to lie, cheat, and behave unfairly. Thats more than a culture problem. Thats a leadership choice problem. And more often than not, its an unconscious one. Why Leaders Rationalize Their Gaps Saydo gaps dont usually come from malice. They come from pressure. From the fear of looking weak. From not wanting to disappoint or disrupt. When leaders find themselves under firetight deadlines, investor demands, internal conflict, stress at homethey reach for rationalizations: Ill course-correct later. This isnt the hill to die on. No one will really notice. The problem is, they do notice. Employees notice everything. The skipped apology. The inflated projection. The performance standards you hold others tobut not yourself. They notice when you declare a new set of values in a town hall, then continue rewarding the same old behaviors. And slowly, silently, trust begins to erode. The Hidden Cost of Misalignment We tend to think of dishonesty as dramatic: embezzlement, fraud, lying, or corruption. But in most organizations, dishonesty takes a quieter, more insidious form; people withholding ideas, exaggerating results, throwing each other under the bus, or simply saying yes when they mean no. Our research showed that environments where identitypurpose, values, and cultureis misaligned are nearly three times more likely to foster this kind of behavior. Over time, these gaps corrode collaboration, innovation, courage, and employee voice. People become transactional. Cynical. They disengage not because they dont care, but because they no longer trust that honesty is safe or worth it. In short: saydo gaps cost more than you think. They cost your peoples belief in you. Your say-do gaps increase the odds of those around you by a factor of 3x that they will join you in legitimizing their own gaps. Why Its So Hard to See Our Own Gaps The human brain is wired for self-protection. When our actions fall short of our espoused values, we tell ourselves a more flattering story to preserve our identity. We become the hero of our narrative. The pressure was impossible. The budget left no choice. The timing wasnt right. But in order to be honest with others, we have to be honest with ourselves. If we cant see our own dissonance, we cant close the gap. As one executive confessed to me after a disastrous acquisition: We all knew it would fail, but we kept our mouths shut. Deal fever took over. We lost sight of who we wereand couldnt admit it. The result? A $3.5 billion mistake, shattered careers, and broken trust. How to Start Closing the Gaps If you’re serious about rebuilding trust and becoming the leader people want to follow, here are four practical ways to begin: 1. Name Your Gaps, Out Loud Ask yourself: Where am I most tempted to say one thing and do another? Where have I rationalized a disconnect between my values and behavior? Then share that reflection with your team. Vulnerability creates clarity. And clarity is what people crave. 2. Make Your Values Observable Dont let purpose statements live in frames on walls. Embed them into how decisions get made, who gets promoted, what gets rewarded, and how conflict is handled. When your actions reflect your values without you having to say a word, alignment becomes contagious. 3. Invite Truth Tellers Every leader needs someone who isnt impressed by their titlesomeone with permission to challenge and point out blind spots. Create that space. Ask your team regularly, Where do you see misalignment in me? and thank them when they answer honestly. 4. Look for the Pattern Your saydo gaps arent random. They have a pattern. Look back over your calendar from the past two weeks. Where did your actions bely your stated values? Be brutally honest. Then ask: what triggered the gap? What did you gain by not acting in alignmentcomfort, control, approval? Those choices serve a purpose. They make you feel safe. But until you name the pattern and uncover its origin story, youll keep repeating it. Reflection is the first step toward repair. Closing your saydo gaps isnt about perfection. Its about taking responsibility for the moments where your humanity falls short of your ideals. We all have them. Your people are wondering if you know yours. The most honest leaders Ive worked with arent flawless. Theyre just relentlessly committed to shrinking the gap between who they say they are and how they show upespecially when its hard. And in doing so, they earn something far more valuable than compliance. They earn trust. And once youve earned trust, performance, loyalty, courage, and innovation follow. So, if youre serious about leadership that inspiresnot just instructs or directsstart here: say what you mean. Do what you say. And keep closing the gap.
Category:
E-Commerce
A lot of people are getting fed up with how powerful people and institutions benefit themselves while things get worse by the day for the rest of us. Especially younger generations. But it seems to me that choices made by everyday peopleoften in how they spend their dollarshave the effect of increasing inequity. Middle and working class people buy into systems that increase unfairness and tilt the scales further towards the wealthiest in our society. Take Robinhood, for example. When the investment platform launched in 2013 as the first major broker eliminating commissions and minimums for stock trading, it positioned itself as democratizing finance for all. The supposedly disruptive trading platform got 56% of its 2024 revenue from payment for order flow from large financial institutions. Another 12% came from Citadel, an extremely successful hedge fund controlling 40% of trades from nonprofessional individual investors, called retail investors. Yet it purported to democratize investing for retail investors. When 56% of revenue comes from one type of financial institution, it suggests that those are Robinhoods real customers. Not to mention, the platform has been fined and sued over issues like the trading gamification, misleading communications, and risk oversight. Robinhood incurred outages and technical difficulties during high market volatility periods, costing users substantial losses. And dont forget January 28, 2021, when Robinhood halted the purchase (but not the sale) of certain stocks that were the focus of grassroots retail trading campaigns, notably GameStop and AMC, citing risk management and clearinghouse deposit requirements. Its no surprise to skeptical investors that market makers (like Citadel) had significant loss exposure to the stocks in question. In the hedge funds pockets The trading platform that named itself after the famous mythical character who steals from the rich and gives to the poor was doing just the oppositeproving with its actions it was in the monied hedge fund crowds pockets all along. Youd think that Robinhood was delivering on its promise by looking at its stock price chart. The company is a Wall Street darling, its stock continuing to climb, often supported by investments from the 32% individual retail stock owners. Our company, Prospero.ai, is a free investment research platform with a newsletter suggesting stock picks to retail investors. For a long time, we warned of Robinhoods dangers because it exacerbates the established market players existing advantages. But Robinhoods stock gained such a groundswell of retail and institutional support that we recently flipped to recommending the stock on the same basis that a lot of people seem to use it. My attitude when we flipped our stance was, Our signals love this stock; we have an obligation to report on the best investments and not cloud our recommendations with personal moral judgements. While this might seem like a sad capitulation, and it is, there is a silver lining. The power of the individual You see, Prosperos algorithms only show how the market is moving in aggregate. To give truly good and unbiased investing advice, I feel obligated to follow the very accurate results our signals indicate. But all of Prosperos collected data are built on many, many small decisionsoften made by individuals. When analysis increasingly rules decision making, individuals have the power to move markets if they are willing to adhere to their own principles, and not institutions principles. If individual investors stop using and investing in Robinhood, investing algorithms like ours at Prospero will not continue favoring Robinhood. And this applies to all systems. There are more middle and working class people than uber wealthy people. If the collective puts actions behind principles favoring themselves, our societys principles will have to change too. The crypto revolution This brings me to the next horizon in the financial industrythe crypto revolution. We have been similarly concerned with the structures it creates but also unable to ignore the extreme positive momentum. For example, COIN (Coinbase) has been one of our more consistent recommendations the last few years. I cant help but see even bigger risks here, though. Few things have gotten the American people up in arms more than a massive financial crisis. Yet with all of the talk about crypto improving things, we have seen it be a hotbed of criminal activity, and the systemic risks posed by increasing capital into it are astounding and seemingly never discussed. For example, crypto products and platforms frequently fail to provide full or accurate information about risks, operations, management, or associated costs to users. Crypto platforms also reuse client assets as collateral for multiple loans, creating cascading chains of leverage that amplify systemic risk far beyond what’s visible. Conflicts of interest and insider dealings can be hidden in crypto markets, unlike traditional regulated financial markets that require comprehensive public disclosures. Platform operations and market making in crypto can be nontransparent, allowing exchanges or insiders to profit at customer expensesometimes even trading against their own users. Scams, phishing attacks, and exchange hacks are rampant. The irreversibility of crypto transactions means most victims never recover their assets. This hasnt stopped crypto from becoming a more interesting space for retail investors who own 20% of stocks versus 85% of Bitcoin. I hope this information has the appropriate impact. Whenever we let institutions and insiders add too much leverage, the system breaks. The more money in crypto, the harder the system will break. Why do retail investors help usher in self-destructive systems? Crypto investors and market makers are operating for themselves. When will individuals learn to do the same? The world changeswhen people stop feeling defeated and start living by their principles. If we all exercise our power, the masses will become unstoppable. Look at our current society. Youll find scorn and distaste for the billionaires galivanting the country on the backs of the working class. But at least these billionaires have figured out something valuable: how to operate for themselves. Dont take this writing as a call for middle and working class people to band together to act in one way. Act for yourselfnot for institutions. Act in ways that will truly benefit you and your family in the long term. I have a feeling that if we all do that, it will lead to a more equitable society, which is where I, for one, want to live. George Kailas is CEO of Prospero.ai.
Category:
E-Commerce
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