The question of inherent advantage

One of the gifts that life gives us is the ability to reflect on what has passed, in order to apply learnings to what is yet to be.  In watching a generation of successful tech startups achieve astronomical profits, I noticed that many have shattered the premise that a company or industry is untouchable because of some inherent advantage.  

Instead of trying to be bigger and better than the incumbent, on their terms, these firms took tangential paths.  Recognizing the barrier to entry to start a hotel chain was extremely high, Airbnb bypassed the ownership of physical property and focused on the value in the booking of privately owned property.  Instead of tackling the regulatory and cost hurdles necessary to compete with cable providers and broadcast networks, Netflix focused exclusively on content.  The company revolutionized our viewing habits by focusing on content we already wanted, only later to create original content.  How many people told Tesla they should build cars the way everyone else did?  Instead, they did everything from production to sales their own way. Now they are growing faster than those traditional powerhouses in many segments.

If you look at many of the most profitable companies in tech today, they often have stories of challenging incumbents by choosing to take a different road to success. They leveraged the few things that they knew how to do well and created value in non-traditional ways.

I see parallels in our current discussions about how to make meaningful progress in the quest for racial, ethnic, and gender equality.  For so many, equality feels perpetually illusive.  There is the sense that the incumbent systems preserve advantages for a few and parity is a hill too high to climb.  And for those with historical advantages, there is a thought that in order to survive, they have to protect their existing edge at all costs.  So instead of evolving, many choose instead to double down on historic and/or perceived advantages.  

Our modern corporate environment has brought us some truly valuable lessons that we can apply to our social frameworks.  Many industries have stopped fighting the upstarts and learned to partner and leverage the innovations they have brought to the table.  As Airbnb perfected their permission and rating-based reservation experience, many hotels began to list properties on Airbnb.  Others used the competition to drive overdue improvements to their offerings and become even better at providing in-home like experiences.  As YouTube increased their viewership, cable companies and every possible streaming device embraced their success and embedded access to YouTube as part of their offerings to drive other revenue generating vehicles.  Tesla has brought countless advances in batteries and design and is actively sharing many of those benefits with the whole industry. 

The opportunities for many who have been historically disadvantaged lie less in their ability to assimilate or to be just like those currently in "the lead," but more in their ability to explore their uniqueness and create value through their experientially-cultivated paradigms.  Creating so much value that those incumbent systems are compelled to pay attention and become willing advocates.  People from diverse cultures should be encouraged to key on their strengths more than focusing on how they lack more traditional attributes.

Equity and equality is not sameness.  Cooperation is possible and advantageous when multiple entities do what they each do best and compliment each other. I encourage those who have benefited from historical systems to get excited about what can happen when the small unpredictable party finds its way.  Don't actively fight it, support it, and give them room to flourish, because in their success, the overall ethos will evolve and thrive.

To those who feel that institutions have excluded and potentially oppressed you, I know it's exhausting.  History has shown that authenticity and rarity have extremely high value when showcased.  Your success may very well lie in intentionally not doing what the rest do.  Stop changing who you are to seek acceptance in such a way that you give up your differentiating characteristics.  For some of you, that will mean a shift to entrepreneurship.  Many will stay in Corporate America, but will bring a more authentic version of yourself to the table.  For some you will be drawn towards political engagement or education in a community you are uniquely equipped to activate.  Others still will feel a pull to unconventional industries and foreign countries, where your true passion will be magnified.  The path may (likely will) be bumpy and unpredictable, but for many of you, it will be where you will find your ultimate success. The key is to bring your true self to the role and actively tell your story and invite others to do so for you.

It's time to shake things up in our culture.  I want to say it will look like nothing we have never seen before, but when we find models that work in some domains, we should bring them to life to solve old problems in a new way.