PART TWO OF A FOUR-PART SERIES
Delivering only what’s expected for too long makes companies uncompetitive. Successful leaders of the future will need to build the capability to lead their organizations beyond “what is known.” It will require the vision and the courage to go to places that are new, extreme, and unanticipated.
The “Ambition Zone” is a new way of looking at opportunities beyond the current capabilities of the business or the industry. It’s not about benchmark or best practice, but an approach and a mindset that breaks the reality and sets a new context.
Operating in the Ambition Zone means being willing to commit to a future beyond what’s known, and then relentlessly innovating and inventing the solution to delivering that future. It’s daring to create new categories, new markets, new precedents. And then daring to do it again, because that’s what is needed.
Netflix’s global growth is an example of what’s possible when a company detaches tomorrow’s goals from today’s results. Netflix set its sights on growing its global footprint to 200 countries—a remarkable ambition for a company that was only in the US before 2010, and only in 50 countries by 2015. As of today, they operate in over 190 countries and more than half of their subscribers are outside the US.
Over the past two decades, Netflix has evolved three distinct business models. In 2007, they cannibalized their mail delivery model to sustain video on demand. They now have 137 million subscribers worldwide. Netflix .
To deliver reality-breaking results, leaders must deeply question or even set aside accepted business approaches and techniques. This invites leaders to operate from a different frame, a necessary freedom for creative discoveries.
