Normalcy is the Enemy of Progress

In April 2021 Jeff Bezos wrote his last annual shareholder letter before stepping down from the CEO role at Amazon, and as cliché as it is for an e-commerce founder to write about Amazon…here we go!?

Bezos’ final letter contains, in my opinion, one of the most powerful lessons in scaling businesses: Differentiation is Survival and the Universe Wants You to be Typical.?

Bezos points out that all individuals, institutions, and companies, face an inherent pressure to converge towards normalcy. It is the default state of the universe to be normal/typical/standard; yet, one of the most powerful aspects of human existence is that we have pushed against normalcy. The very nature of human life is a fight against normalcy. Our bodies are constantly pushing back against a state of equilibrium with our environment to survive. Despite how "bad" we sometimes feel about our world today, we have come a long way by pushing back against normal.?

For example, medical advancements and technological innovation have improved living standards and resulted in dramatic increases in average life expectancy across the world. In 1950 the average life expectancy in the Americas was 59; in Africa, it was 36. Today it is 78 and 63, respectively. The world feels like an incredibly volatile place today (and though in some dimensions, it is), our lives are 100x better than those of generations before us - thanks largely to humanity’s refusla to accept normalcy. I will always believe that human innovation and the fight against stasis will continue to drive us forward.?

Bezos makes the additional point that "you have to pay the price for your distinctiveness. The world will always try to make Amazon more typical – to bring us into equilibrium with our environment. It will take continuous effort, but we can and must be better than that."?

This resonates with me. As companies grow, size and scale force them towards normalcy and stasis. I have made this point time and again: size threatens companies to move more slowly. It forces companies to layer on onerous processes that can stifle innovation. It forces decreases in risk tolerance and the inability for companies to take bets. Over time, this gradual decay towards normalcy results in stasis, and as we all know, for companies, stasis equals death.?

It is not an easy battle to fight, but it is clearly worth fighting.

So what can we do to avoid normalcy and stasis? A few areas for leaders to always keep in mind:?

1. Prioritize being nimble and scrappy and do not let the process become the enemy of progress. Test, iterate, repeat. If things do not work, scrap them quickly and if things do work, promote them quickly. Being scrappy is different from being reckless - size your experiments correctly. You can make bets without betting the entire business.?
2. Push for a pace of innovation that is just a little uncomfortably fast. Too slow=stasis, and too fast=burnout. It is a tough needle to thread, but there is a speed that works. A little over the speed limit will get you there faster without getting a ticket, usually.
3. Hire for excellence but also for fit. Not everyone will enjoy the culture the principles above create. It's equally important to hire for fit as it is to hire for skills-based excellence. Make sure your teams are balanced regarding knowledge/experience and speed/nimbleness.?
4. Continue to think about how you can do things differently. When there is no playbook for what you are building, you must write it as you go!?