Four careers over 50+ years. USMC, engineering, consulting, education. Past twenty years have focused on helping leaders become and remain relevant during times of change.
Mindprep: Timeless advice? I think so.
|
Reader, Adrian Slywotzky wrote Value Migration over 30 years ago. It was one of my favorite books then and I was recently wondering if his idea was time-bound or timeless. Quick SummaryValue migration is a strategic concept developed to explain a recurring but often misunderstood reality of competitive markets: profits do not remain fixed within a company, product, or even an industry. Over time, value migrates away from business models that no longer align with customer priorities and toward new models that deliver superior utility, convenience, or economics. Leaders who fail to recognize this movement early enough are often surprised by decline; those who anticipate it can reposition before erosion becomes irreversible. At its core, value migration reframes strategy from defending existing positions to understanding where value is flowing and why. Or, in terms I’ve used for years, leaders need to intercept the future. Leaders must focus on how value is being redefined and redistributed across the system, not merely on defending existing products, markets, or competitive positions. That was thenHere are five examples of value migration that you’ll remember.
How about today?
OK, how about you in 2026 and beyond?
Value migration happened in 1995 and it’s happening today. It happens to businesses and it happens to careers. Want to navigate today’s mess? You might want to read Navigating the Wicked World. Cheers, Bill |
Bill @ MindPrep
Four careers over 50+ years. USMC, engineering, consulting, education. Past twenty years have focused on helping leaders become and remain relevant during times of change.
Reader, QUESTION: What do these two pictures have in common? ANSWER: Contagion Both the Spanish Flu of 1918 and social media of 2026 are examples of contagion. Let me explain. 1918 Influenza The Spanish flu spread through physical proximity. Gatherings accelerated transmission of the virus that moved invisibly before symptoms were obvious. 2026 Social Media Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok create algorithmic amplification loops. And, therefore, anxiety, comparisons, and self-harm...
Reader, I’ve been writing about wicked worlds and wicked problems for a year or so, but I don’t want you to think that these are new. Here’s a story that’s over 30 years old. IBM was in deep trouble in 1993. Its mainframe-centered business model was weakening. Personal computing was reshaping the industry. The company was losing billions of dollars. Its major divisions operated with competing priorities, and many experts believed IBM should be broken into smaller businesses. At first glance,...
Reader, Here are a few reflections about some past business failures. What happens when ....... Weak signals are dismissed? You get Nokia. Smartphone interfaces, software ecosystems, developer platforms and changing customer expectations were visible before Nokia’s handset collapse. An old mental model is retained? You get Kodak. They understood digital photography but continued to interpret the market through the economics of film, processing, and printing. Problems are defined too narrowly?...