In V-Work’s 10-year moonshot journey, we are entering our second year. Last year, our slogan was “System First”, which we have laid down a series of disciplines (principles and practices), people (right people, right seat), and tools (know-how and technologies). Our slogan for 2023/2024 is “Product First”, which is a step up from the foundation we laid down in the past 12 months.
One of the principles is “1% daily improvement”, an incrementalism concept from The Atomic Habit by James Clear. Continuous improvement is a good habit and system, however, it has a blind spot which is the “local maximum”. We can only optimize within the limits of our assumptions and design constraints. Meaning that is only so much a fish can grow in a small water tank. It takes a paradigm shift to disrupt our assumptions, switching to a new pond or ocean to reach new heights. This is where the 10X + 1% balance is AND, not OR operator. This is how evolution works, it has sudden disruptions like mutation or environmental changes, followed by many iterations of tiny incremental changes, and repeating the optimization cycles.
[image credit: Bing Image Creator]
We are not measuring 1% (not 5%) or 10X, not 8X or 50X. 1% refers to the incremental improvement we continuously optimize for anything we are doing. 10X refers to the abrupt shift in our mindsets and approaches:
questioning our assumptions
choose a new set of design constraints, different success measures
play a different game (different market, different strategy, different rules)
Examples of our current mindset:
Ringgit Malaysia will be a weak currency in 2023.
It is normal to take 6 - 9 months to implement an enterprise solution project.
It is impossible to grow 10X in 3 years.
To compete with the best, it takes time or impossible to fix our weaknesses.
We cannot work 10x harder or longer.
Whatever we are doing now works, so why change?
A shift in the assumptions and perspectives
It is an excellent opportunity to earn solid foreign currencies while operating at a low cost of living country.
Enterprise solutions can be implemented in days (not months).
What are the mindsets that support 10X growth?
Differentiate by our strengths, not fixing our weaknesses to stand out. We don’t have to be the best; we must be different.
Think different, work smarter, better, faster, not 10x harder. Improve the components by a fraction and use the multiplier effect. A x B x C = Outcome. 2A x 3B x 2C = 12X Outcome. Sometimes, doing less is better.
If we don’t disrupt ourselves today, one day, the market will force us to react or disappear.
“If you want to fly, give up everything that weights you down.” - Tony Morrison
If we look back at our personal growth, we did 10X many times:
as a toddler, you learn from crawling, standing, and walking to running. In 3 years, that is like 100X faster (running compared to crawling)
You likely took less than 1 year to learn your first 10 English words to 100 words. That was 10X mastery of the vocabulary.
1905 the Wright Brothers developed the flying machine; in 1969, Neil Armstrong put his feet on the moon. Mankind took less than 65 years from being unable to fly to landing humans on the moon. That is 1000X more capable.
In short, 10X + 1% is a good strategy for improving and questioning our assumptions and mindsets is the first step forward.
The toddler never doubts that she cannot run like other kids and adults.
It is always harder to look at the GAP, what is lacking from where we are now to achieve our fetch goal. We seldom look at how far we have come from 10 years ago to where we are today; we do not appreciate the gain.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy was pressured by the Cold War to gain a lead in the space race (the Soviet Union had successfully sent astronauts to outer space in 1957). I bet NASA was sweating after hearing the decision that the USA would be the first nation to land humans on the moon. Looking at the amount of ingenuity and dedication required to make the unavailable (technologies) a reality inspires me.
[image credit: Bing Image Creator]
