Week 31, 2023—Issue 267
AI in Commerce, VO₂ Max, and the Age of Discontinuity
Successful organizations do three things: they create value for customers, they optimize for personal fulfillment, and they remain effective (and profitable) over the long term.
Here are three ideas to help you do the same:
AI in Commerce
LLMs pave the way for service marketplaces
There’s so much talk about AI and LLMs these days that it’s hard not to become desensitized. But this essay from Dan Hock is different. Marketplaces, Hock explains, come in a variety of shapes and sizes — from lead-gen marketplaces that simply connect buyers and sellers to “heavily managed” marketplaces like Amazon that directly participate in the distribution. Today, all large marketplaces are of the “managed” variety and they all focus on physical goods. Services represent a massive opportunity, but they are so complex as to defy the classification systems that marketplaces need to function. LLMs, Hock explains, have the potential to change all that, paving the way for trillion-dollar service markets.
VO₂ Max
Cardiorespiratory fitness indicates longevity
Fulfillment is a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but I think it’s safe to say that most of us want to live a long and healthy life. When it comes to longevity, few factors appear as important as VO₂ max, defined as the maximum (max) rate (V) of oxygen (O₂) consumption that your body can utilize during exercise. Research has shown a strong correlation between cardiorespiratory fitness (which VO₂ max measures) and mortality. For instance, one study observed a 5x increase in mortality between groups with low cardiorespiratory fitness compared to those at an elite level. The same study also found that even moderate improvements in VO₂ max could yield significant health benefits.
Age of Discontinuity
Embrace change for long-term success
Ram Charan writes in HBR about the characteristics that have traditionally led to organizational success. In a few short paragraphs, he details the rise and fall of top-down, structured management, adding that we are now entering into an “age of discontinuity” characterized by constant and continuous change. Importantly, he also identifies four characteristics that he thinks will be key going forward: (1) deep customer personalization, (2) bold innovation, even at the cost of core competencies, (3) flexible, collaborative team structures, and (4) an unwavering focus on external influences. And if these elements sound familiar, it’s because they are: it’s almost a perfect description of Haier’s Rendanheyi model.
That’s all for this week.
Until next time: Make it matter.
/Andreas
How can we build better organizations? That’s the question I’ve been trying to answer for the past 10 years. Each week, I share some of what I’ve learned in a weekly newsletter called WorkMatters. Subscription is free. Back issues are published to Medium after three months. This article was originally published on Friday, July 4, 2023.
