Monetization Playbook #28—What iF?

What if? 

What if there were at least five options for every problem. 

There are!

The question is, how do you find them?

How do you generate five alternatives for every what-if statement?

A straightforward route is to view stakeholder perspectives.  

Shareholders. Employees. Environment. Customers. Suppliers. 

All form part of the consideration landscape.

Let's consider Netflix.

The innovation we see is only half the story. The streaming of original content to customer's homes is excellent–but HBO had done that for a while.

That is the least of the what-if achievements.

It's in the other stakeholder areas where Netflix has explored the value of what-if thinking.

What if we could create a new home for auteur film and series creators––suppliers.

The break-up of the studio system in the sixties led to increasing costs of independent film production.

Rising costs meant reduced risk-taking.

Enter the age of the blockbuster.

Since its zenith in the 70s–artistic content production had been on the wane. Netflix smashed that paradigm.

On the employee front–culture innovation.

Dispensing with the formal recording around holiday management sent a clear message of trust to every team member.

–Take what you need. Deliver what we need!

No deliveries–means fewer miles. Fewer miles have gotta be good for the environment, right?

And as for shareholder returns, well, 4,000% return is not too shabby.

What if? What if?…