Physics defines power as work over elapsed time. The formula is P = W / (change in t).
While this is the scientific definition of the word "power", the same definition can apply to business.
The power formula illustrates is why great company leaders are obsessed with speed. In a very real sense, the faster your business can produce valuable work, the more power you have.
While I don't consider myself a "great" leader, I am obsessed with speed - that is - with producing more customer value faster.
Moving fast consistently is struggle, especially in tech, because there is a constant tension between the business needs in terms of coding and tech work needing to be done, and how fast coders can work. Great coders are craftsman who rightly want to take their time and do things carefully, so this tension between business needs and realistic output speed develops.
But great companies find a way to balance these two opposing forces, and are able to deliver features and experiments faster than competitors. Often much faster. In fact, if you can get fast enough, speed becomes a bigger advantage than "just" being faster than your competitors. In some cases, speed opens up new possibilities that wouldn't otherwise be possible. The possibilities unlocked by speed are a major reason why small, nimble companies are able to take markets away from larger, better-staffed and better capitalized big companies. In theory, the big companies should win, but in practice, the startups are just too nimble and too fast, and that, in itself, is a game changer.
IBM should have owned the PC market, but the clone makers were just faster (that and IBM screwed up by allowing Microsoft to license DOS to the clone makers). Microsoft should have owned internet search, but Google iterates faster. And Google should have owned cloud computing (We talked about the proverbial "Google Drive" and "Google Operating System" for years), but Amazon was faster. Amazon is an interesting anomaly because, while being a giant today, they are still fast and nimble and, incredibly, seem to be getting faster all the time. Every time Amazon has an announcement event, I am simply flabbergasted at the number of new cloud computing products they reveal. I suspect their ability be nimble derives from their intentional culture of only allowing small, autonomous "two-pizza" teams that must compete in the real marketplace. In a nutshell, "Amazon" is made up of hundreds of individual "startups." At least in their cloud computing division.
I read recently that any novice could beat a chess grand-master if the novice was allowed two moves for each one of the grand-master's moves. And I suspect that's true.
Imagine moving twice as fast as your competitors.
That level of speed would allow previously un-achievable goals to be hit. How do you beat the world's best chess player? Move twice as fast. And while two-to-one moves aren't allowed in chess, they are allowed in business.
In the book, 7 Powers, Hamilton Helmer defines one type of Business power as "Process Power." While he doesn't define process power as "speed." I think speed is a form of process power and therefore a real power that will provide your business with a real "moat."
As I've transitioned from a (fast) developer, into a CEO, I've not been the greatest at building a culture of speed at BoldBrush. It's easy for me to light a fire under myself, but it's harder for me sometimes to get others to understand why we need to release something yesterday. This is totally a deficiency on my part and not on the part of our truly great team.
I'll elaborate in another article some the traps I've allowed to slow us down and outline some of the solutions I see that should be applicable to any technology company team. For now, I'll simply share that I'm starting to deeply understand why a CEO must invest in very intentionally building the culture he or she needs to be effective in the competitive marketplace. It's a communication and culture issue that starts with the CEO. And it's a skill that I am working very hard on improving.
