Moon Shot Thinking: Growth Hacking To The Stars

Buzz words such as "10X, scale-up, innovative, and disruptive" have been becoming more common lately most especially with start-up businesses. They convey the usual paradigm and business strategy model of successful companies which incubate new ideas and concepts and convert them into trail-blazing, life-changing products and services.

The operative word we observe here is "life-changing". And this alpha mindset that sets an organization apart from the rest is more commonly called today as "moon shot thinking."

Looking At The Heavens For Inspiration

"Shoot for the moon and if you miss it, you will still be among the stars." This cliché typically refers to dreaming big and doing your best to catch it. This is just short of saying that if you set your target high enough and fail to achieve it, you will still be in a better place from where you started. The operational word here is upward, positive change.

It is articulated by Makower (2019) that moonshot can be defined?as "an ambitious, exploratory and groundbreaking initiative with no expected near-term profitability or benefit and without a full investigation of potential risks and benefits." This is tantamount to saying that with all uncertainties being considered, it is simply a high risk, high reward proposition. It sums up extraordinary efforts meant to realize audacious goals.

Roy (2020) posited that "innovation acts as the foundation of human existence. It is an expression of creativity and problem solving leading to improved standards, quality of living and productivity. Everything around us can be re-imagined, improved on, and made better."

Through moonshot thinking the key is on creating a solution that will bring 10X improvement instead of creating an incremental improvement of 10 percent (Alayón, 2018).?

"Shoot for the moon and if you miss it, you will still be among the stars." This cliché typically refers to dreaming big and doing your best to catch it. This is just short of saying that if you set your target high enough and fail to achieve it, you will still be in a better place from where you started. The operational word here is upward, positive change.

Landing On A Field Of Stars

Moon shot thinking has been the catalyst for growth and development in human history as far as we can remember. From discovering fire to inventing the wheel, the human ingenuity has been very reliable in taking leap-frogs time and again.

The modern day businesses that make difference in people's lives are those that are commonly based in Silicon Valley and usually are coined start-ups. They have mind-blowing innovations that challenge the status quo and tease us with an exciting future and new ways of doing things.

Apple gave us the amazing iPhone, Google gave us a reliable internet search engine, Facebook gave us an addictive social media platform, and the list can go on. Many of these inventions and innovations have literally changed professions - retiring outdated ones and leading to the rise in demand for new ones.

Without a doubt, the age of the information revolution has been a period of great change and advancement - accelerating the rate of change exponentially.

The suggestion is not to stop dreaming big but to accept the benefits of failing forward and fast. This leads to rapid learning and adaptation. Failure is part of success and learning is part of experience and wisdom. We get better every time.

Casey Kasem once said, "Keep reaching for the stars and your feet on the ground". Let's continue to shoot for the moon and change the world.

Is Moon Shot Thinking A Long Shot?

Big, hairy, audacious goals are often considered as a tall order. Hard to execute and against all odds. But there have been a lot of companies which have thrived even when they have challenged the most formidable of existing business models and the biggest corporations at the time.

Netflix once went to Box Office to offer a partnership in digital streaming services, but the latter turned down the offer and later regretted it. A fledgling Google once offered itself for sale to Yahoo. But Yahoo was to proud and busy basking at its success then that it failed to recognize the potential of Google. Both Uber and Air BNB have heavily disrupted the traditional taxi and hotel industry by working around asset ownership and introducing the concept of shared economy by acting as digital marketplaces for the required services.

However, it is not always a string of success that follows moon shot thinking. In the case of Amazon, there was a steady win in terms of the breakthrough technology and value proposition that went with its product offerings and services. It's mantra of delivering within 24 hours anywhere in the US has concretized this customer promise and created a following for its premium services leading to the monumental climb of the company at the top.

But not everything it churns out is a recipe for success. Efforts to hype-up drone delivery systems across markets have been a staple sales pitch for Amazon for a couple of years. But the feasibility of weaving through regulatory requirements and setting up strategic hubs for the drones has been anything but practical. This idea simply could not take-off. (No pun intended.)

The suggestion is not to stop dreaming big but to accept the benefits of failing forward and fast. This leads to rapid learning and adaptation. Failure is part of success and learning is part of experience and wisdom. We get better every time.

Casey Kasem once said, "Keep reaching for the stars and your feet on the ground". Let's continue to shoot for the moon and change the world.

Let me know your thoughts.