🧮 Success ≠ Being the Best

The Edge Effect

^{Read time: 3 min 33 sec | August 19th, 2024}

Welcome back 👋

I believe there are as many ways to succeed as there are people, but we are told that being the best is what leads to success. But is this the case?

Actually, no.

Many of the most successful entrepreneurs aren’t the best at anything. Here’s how they do it and how you can too.

Today’s Insights

• 👓 Kind vs Wicked Environments

• 📈 Why Skill Stacking is key

• 🥷 How You can Skill Stack

🛠️ Kind vs Wicked Environments

When I was younger, I always wanted to be the best at something. Whether in sports, hobbies, or business.

But over time I realised the rewards of specialising at one thing depends heavily on the environment.

This is when I discovered Kind and Wicked environments.

In a kind environment, progress is clearly measurable, with instant feedback and straightforward unchangeable rules. For example running, progress is easy to measure with time and distance.

And in chess, every move provides immediate feedback, and improvement comes from understanding the strategies and rules.

In contrast, a wicked environment is complex and unpredictable. Progress is unclear, and feedback is often inconsistent due to changing rules.

Entrepreneurship is a perfect example of this, with market conditions, competition, and other variables making outcomes difficult to predict.

There are no set rules like in running or chess meaning entrepreneurs face more challenges but can use their creativity to find innovative solutions.

For example, entrepreneurs must be creative to sustain their startups. 👇

So how can entrepreneurs gain an edge in wicked environments?

❓ Why Skill Stacking is Key

Many real-world environments, unlike controlled sports, are complex and unpredictable. In such settings, trying to be the very best at one or even a few skills isn’t always the best move.

For example, Steve Jobs wasn’t the best designer, he couldn’t code and wasn’t the lead engineer.

Jeff Bezos wasn’t the best coder, he didn’t have a deep background in logistics, and he wasn’t the top expert in retail management.

What do these successful entrepreneurs have in common?

They didn’t focus on mastering a single skill but instead leveraged a combination of complementary skills to achieve greatness. This is known as skill stacking.

In today’s multifaceted world, success often comes from combining skills from different fields and applying them creatively.

This approach can help someone outperform those who have specialised in just one area, especially in unpredictable environments.

So, how can this help you?

🥷 How You can Skill Stack

In a business context, someone with strong negotiation skills and data analysis expertise is often more valuable than a top-tier data analyst who lacks interpersonal abilities.

The combination of analytical prowess and negotiation skills enables them to drive better deals, influence stakeholders, and make data-driven decisions that lead to successful outcomes.

Therefore, their negotiation skill enhances the value of their data analysis ability by improving how effectively they can apply it.

Instead of striving to be the absolute best in a single skill, you can gain a competitive edge by combining two (or more) complementary skills.

By being in the top 10% in both, you create a unique skill set where there is little competition, making you highly valuable and potentially one of the best in the world at that particular combination.

🔑 Key takeaway

• Being in the top 10% in five complementary skills is often more advantageous than being in the top 1% in just one skill, especially in complex environments like business

• Build a unique combination of skills. For example, combining design with psychology can lead to in-demand expertise in UX design.

• Think of what skills you have that are unrelated to your field that could be used to gain you an unfair advantage.

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Thank you for reading i look forward to seeing you again!

Thomas 🚀

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Gain Your Edge