100-Year Perspective
I was listening to this episode of Lenny’s Podcast (https://apple.co/3YIIyDI) when the guest, Archie Abrams, referenced Shopify’s 100-year perspective. I love this, which is a large part of why Shopify has succeeded.
Shopify’s 100-year perspective got me thinking about what if more of us had a 100-year perspective? How might we live our lives and conduct our businesses differently if we played a longer game? Would we take more risks, invest in longer-term value, be less stressed about next week, and more?
The pushback would be that most people don’t live to be 100 (the life expectancy worldwide in 2022 was 72 years), and most organizations don’t make it a few years, let alone a century. But even if it is unlikely that you or an organization you lead will be around for 100 years, what’s the harm in conducting yourself like you and it will be? The answer, I believe, is there isn’t any.
Having a long-term perspective, longer than what most people or organizations would think of as long-term, only has upside. It gets us out of reactionary, impulsive thinking and action. FOMO becomes irrelevant. Fads and trends fade into the background and get chased by others as you stay focused on building something long-lasting. A 100-year perspective would change a lot of our societal, political, and economic planning, policy, and discord, too.
We’re all driven by KPIs, OKRs, and other metrics that define our short-term success or failure. Make no mistake: You have to succeed in the short term to have a chance at a 100-year run, but there is probably a lot of opportunity for most of us to reverse our perspective from being short-term driven to long-term, which would benefit us and our organizations.
Since they are outliers, we marvel at centurions’ longevity and secrets to living a long life. Organizations celebrate anniversaries and longevity with parties, commemorative items, and honorary logos. We’re turning 30 in 2025 at Transform Labs and will indeed celebrate the milestone. Still, we’re still far from a finish line when you think about it compared to 100 or another 100. In many respects, we’re just getting started and building on a legacy that will continue for another 70+ years.
We all have an opportunity to live and lead with a 100-year perspective. If we or our organizations don’t make it that long, so be it, but what if we do or can facilitate it?
