Shifting horizons

On-demand

When I was my son Jasper's age (15), accessing information, music, or movies was a journey. Finding algebra help meant hunting down a textbook or teacher. Finding new music was a bike ride to Brash's for vinyl records or turning on the radio. Movies? Either a cinema trip or an endless wait for its TV screening.

But slowly the gap between desire and delivery grew shorter and shorter.

By the early-1980s, VCRs brought movies home (from the video library). My double-cassette ghetto blaster let me create clunky DJ sets on mixtapes. My friend's Tandy TRS-80 computer laboriously plotted primitive algebra equations.

Fast forward forty years and all information, music, and movies are on demand. (Okay, pedants, maybe not all, but close enough.)

And the shortening of that gap continues. Now, even complex insights are on-demand. With AI helpers like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, I can:

1. Upload a single dense document and distill major themes;

2. Compare and contrast arguments between two documents;

3. Apply frameworks from one document to another's content, in a third's voice.

I can even upload everything I’ve ever written, and every slide I’ve ever created, into a ‘Robot Andrew Hollo’ who knows what I know, and answers questions ‘in Andrew’s voice’. (Truly: if you want access to it, ask me, and I’ll let you play with it).

But here's the kicker: We don't even need to formulate the right question anymore because these systems can now detect context better and better.

Last night, Jasper was stuck on algebra. I suggested asking AI a question. His response? "Don't bother asking, Dad. Watch this."

He pasted his entire curriculum outline into Claude AI, without any prompt. Claude immediately recognised he's a Year 9 high school student, provided step-by-step instructions, including help on ‘common tricks and tips’ and offered practice examples. Within five minutes, he got his ‘a-ha’ and moved on.

Back in 1980? I'd be scratching my head, hunting through textbooks, or waiting to ask my teacher the next day.

Question: What is the next on-demand horizon you’re narrowing for your customers?

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Getting growth right

Among my clients right now are two small organisations with opposing growth challenges:

1. A $30M business with four 80%-100% likelihood opportunities that, together, would double their revenues. Plus, ten similar projects in the pipeline. Their challenge? "How do we grow capacity dramatically?"

2. A niche $3M organisation, stalled for five years with no obvious growth prospects. Their challenge? "What’s the alternative to growth?"

Both have compelling visions, but their realities demand different approaches:

• The first needs a 'capacity expansion strategy': "What should we add, and how ought we do that viably?"

• The second requires a 'capability honing strategy': "What should we subtract, and how viable would that be?"

The perceptive amongst you are probably thinking something else though. You might recognise that the first is in acquisition mode ("Who can we absorb?") while the second is ripe for being acquired ("Who could absorb us?"). But it's rarely this black and white.

The truth is that most of my clients juggle BOTH capability honing (more with less) and capacity building (more with more) simultaneously.

Question: Is your greatest priority to grow capacity (expansion) or to fine-tune capability (narrow focus)?

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Multiplier effects

A third client right now is a non-profit that delivers free legal services. They are vastly over-subscribed. With fixed government funding, they have to turn away many people each week.

Their strategy? Identify their highest-value activities and find breakthrough improvements with multiplier effects – where small changes cascade into disproportionate impacts.

We arrived at five of these:

1. Targetting e.g., Actively select clients from specific cohorts (in their case families), presenting issues on which they have expertise, and have a ‘prospect of success’.

2. Preventative work e.g., Community empowerment tools (self-representation) plus advocacy that sets fairer conditions in place to prevent the next 100 people from needing a legal service.

3. Integrating with others e.g., With other human service agencies who will, in essence, pre-screen for eligibility, because clients are already seeking other services, like housing, financial assistance, or mental health.

4. Investing in innovations e.g., Implementing AI-driven intake systems and service portals responding to natural language prompts.

5. Optimising internal processes e.g., Freeing up key staff's discretionary time through increased admin support and ruthlessly efficient meetings..

Let's crunch the numbers: If they previously had 1000 monthly inquiries but capacity for only 500, and each multiplier reduces demand by 10% cumulatively:

• 1000 - 10% (targeting) = 900

• 900 - 10% (prevention) = 810

• 810 - 10% (integration) = 729

• 729 - 10% (innovation) = 656

• 656 - 10% (optimisation) = 590

Result? They're now saying 'no' to just 90 people instead of 500. Push each multiplier to 15%, and demand drops to 440 – below their capacity.

This is overly simplistic, I know, but the principle stands: Find multiplier effects and ‘stack them’ and your service gaps will be smaller than you think.

Question: What multiplier effects can you leverage?

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Your thoughts matter to me. If these ideas spark insights for you or your team, hit that heart button — or, even better, make a comment. It's my way of knowing you're out there.

And, this week, seek out those shifts - whether they’re 10% leaps or 1% nudges.

Until next Friday, may your horizons keep expanding,

Andrew