Embracing Consolidation

We are on a continuous journey of increasing efficiency. That’s what you feel happening around you when your job disappears or businesses come and go.

There are only customers and what they want. There’s only the collective thinking from an enormous amount of talented people compounding on top of existing technologies and platforms. These are macro forces that are working towards change on massive scales.

We didn’t have a world ten years ago where everyone had a smart computer in their pocket with infinite computing power. Today, we have a smarter citizenry that is plugged in and able to find whatever answers they are seeking.

The wild west tends to get organized over time. Standardization happens. A few platforms rise to the top. Consolidation is natural to take advantage of economies of scale and allow network effects within an ecosystem.

You can try and fight Google with a better search engine, but you will lose. The game has been played and consolidation has occurred.

You can try and build your own platforms, but why not use the ones that exist already and focus on the content as value instead of the technology?

Every industry is getting touched because we are all contributing in how we do business, access information and connect with others. And if you are not consolidating within your own industry, then someone else will do it. Again, it’s natural.

It’s easier to plug in. It’s easier to get started and make your idea happen.

But the hard part is standing out and being noticed because everyone can participate and put their shingle out now for little to no cost.

There’s no need to differentiate on using something different or isolated from everyone else. The greater value lies around the human part of our experiences. Being human and making an impact with insights, emotion, experience and connection is where the real value lies.

Don’t waste your time fighting consolidation or getting enamored with technologies and platforms. That time has passed on so many fronts.

Get on with the business of putting your work, heart and thoughts out there and lead. It’s a much better strategy in a commoditized, consolidating world.