Think like an Immigrant.

The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past.Edition 242.

On March 19, during a closing keynote of the Adtech Economic Forum at the Times Center in New York, I was asked to summarize and build on the thoughts of all of the other speakers from the Angel Investing, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Corporate Strategics and Hedge Fund businesses who invest in Advertising and Marketing Technologies.

Every speaker mentioned the dramatic changes taking place in the marketing and investing eco-system driven by marketplace, financial, political and technological disruptions and the challenges and opportunities of operating in such an environment.

It seems to be a revolutionary time and many existing business models and past assumptions are at risk and the speed of change seems to be accelerating.

Summarizing their thinking, I suggested that in order to thrive we all learn to…

Think like an Immigrant.

World class leaders and companies rarely get defeated.

They decide to defeat themselves by a) not taking emerging competitors with new models seriously, b) paying scant attention to underdogs with fewer resource and different approaches, and/or c) by refusing to align with the forces of the future.

We can all learn from immigrants.

a) Immigrants often think like outsiders.

Individuals and companies that thrive over the long run view their business from external perspectives and not just internal perspectives.

They understand the viewpoints of future competitors, changing consumer and customer needs and they realize the biggest threats and opportunities come from outside their categories ( eg. Tesla and Uber came from outside the traditional Auto Industry, Google and Meta changed the content industry more than any newspaper, magazine or television conglomerate).

But many leaders and businesses benchmark against existing competitors, go to the same conferences, and stay in the lane of well trodden paths of thinking.

Maybe its time to think like an outsider.

b) Immigrants often think like underdogs.

Underdogs use technology, drive, and ingenuity to find ways to leverage what they have or what others have to change the rules of the game.

They do not view the moat surrounding the castle as a something to navigate but a source of material to flood the castle with by changing the rules of the game!

Even Meta was surprised that what they thought was a moat which was their social graph was used against them. TikTok practiced asymmetric warfare by eschewing the social graph and replacing it with an interest graph. Its algorithm and learning loops allowed individuals to be exposed to a spectrum of great content without having to bring any friends or create any content!

c) Immigrants think with an emphasis on the future

Short or mid term sacrifices and pain is endured to build a future for themselves and families just like great companies think beyond the quarter and the year but in long time periods.

These firms and leaders focus on compound improvement, constant iteration and experimentation and an enduring long term vision whether it be Amazon or Microsoft or Netflix or recently Delta who by taking the long view became the most valuable and biggest airline.

We are all immigrants in a way.

While 27 percent of the United States population is first or second generation immigrant are we not all immigrants in a way that we are all immigrating to a new land called the future?

Margaret Mead wrote “After all, we are all immigrants to the future; none of us is a native in that land.”

And Mohsin Hamid wrote “We are all migrants through time”

Think like an Immigrant.

Rob Beeler and Tom Triscari who co-founded the Adtech Forum had so much interest and resonance from their audience about the “Think like an Immigrant” idea that they have designed and produced men and women’s t-shirts in a range of colors and sizes which are available here. ( I have no economic interest in the sale of the t-shirts)

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