Kedron Rhodes

Part 4 of this 5-part series on strategy is out today, and I’m tackling two topics that go hand in hand: competition and costs.

I’m continually amazed at how many businesses avoid the hard choices of controlling costs so they can invest in what will provide value tomorrow. There’s a subtle tyranny in the urgent demands of today – payroll, meetings, quarterly metrics – that quietly erodes cost control and strategic discipline.

Meanwhile, your competition is investing in areas that position them to win the future. It’s a tale as old as time. Success breeds an operational mindset, one that can quickly become out of touch with changing customer demands and evolving competitive forces.

This week, I also came across a fascinating article on AI and R&D productivity. It made me wonder: how many industries will look back five years from now and realise they squandered the window to adapt before it closed?

Competition and Cost Realities 💸

When leaders refuse to choose – between legacy and future, service and scale, investment and cost – they fall into the tradeoff trap. In this piece, I explore how operational comfort leads to strategic drift, and why disciplined cost choices today enable the investments that define tomorrow’s relevance. If your organization is feeling the squeeze between operational stability and strategic ambition, this read will challenge your assumptions. (Read More →)

🪏 Take it a bit deeper with these…

💼 Leadership & Strategy

• 10 Strategy Reads That Meet the Moment — A curated guide from MIT Sloan featuring essential strategy frameworks and insights to make smarter moves in volatile times.
• Strategy and Product Teams — Roman unpacks how strategy and product teams should relate, and how clarity here fuels faster, better execution.
• Don’t Build an Organizational Culture They Like. Build One They Won’t Leave — A counterintuitive take on culture: rather than focusing on perks and feel-good initiatives, create a culture anchored in purpose and growth that retains talent long-term.

🚀 Innovation

• How AI is driving R&D productivity — R&D has never been harder or more expensive. McKinsey explores how AI can accelerate the process and unlock a new era of growth across industries.
• The Secret To Innovation Is ‘Vertical Innovation’ — With a 95% commercialization rate across 1,350+ patents, Nottingham Spirk’s approach to vertical innovation is redefining what’s possible in product development.

👋 Signing-Off

I’ve been reaching out to a host of friends and colleagues recently to get their thoughts on the future of innovation and strategy. Their insights are both sobering and inspiring, and I look forward to sharing them with you in the coming weeks. If you have thoughts on how strategy must adapt to these rapidly shifting times, I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time, keep choosing your future over your comfort.

~ Kedron

PS. Forward this to someone wrestling with cost and competition tradeoffs this week.

PSS. We made it over to Muskegon, MI this weekend to hit the Lakeshore Art Festival - our first time! What a treat to just be surrounded by so much creativity and entrepreneurialism! So of course I picked up a new illustration to hang on my office wall, by Corinne Roberts - it’s pretty rad!