Author: Kim Lear
While The Future of Optimization has permeated our culture at large, it is Gen Z that has grown up in era when technology has enabled them to optimize everything from their sleep and their workouts to their study habits and even their intellect. Last year, I interviewed executives who work in the vitamin division of […]
While The Future of Optimization has permeated our culture at large, it is Gen Z that has grown up in era when technology has enabled them to optimize everything from their sleep and their workouts to their study habits and even their intellect.
Last year, I interviewed executives who work in the vitamin division of a large corporation. In each interview I asked, “What are the big trends shaping vitamin sales?” Aside from obvious Covid-related trends, something else came up repeatedly. It went something like this:
“These young customers don’t want to buy a regular multivitamin pulled from the shelf. Noooo. Everyone wants their personalized vitamin packets built just for them.
They couldn’t possibly take a trusted and effective multivitamin! They need a special little packet based on their own special snowflake-like uniqueness.”
I chuckled. Kind of. The snowflake thing. Got it.
As I reflected on The Future of Optimization conversation, I realized that I, a vitamin-taker, have never purchased an off-the-shelf multivitamin.
I don’t consider myself particularly unique; I simply had a blood draw at the doctor’s office after having my second baby and realized that I was low on zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D, but basically good on everything else. I didn’t avoid the multivitamin due to my “uniqueness.”
I did it because a multivitamin isn’t the optimal vitamin for my body.
Personalization is misunderstood. People don’t purchase personalized products because they think of themselves as unique snowflakes. People purchase personalized products because those products happen to be more optimal — more perfect, more useful, and more effective.
Optimization entered mainstream conversation in the early 2000s. A familiar example for some of you may be Tim Ferriss’s books, The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef, all focused on lifestyle optimization. If we implement the right tools, routines, rituals, and habits, Ferriss tells us, our time will be spent more perfectly, more effectively, and more usefully.
While The Future of Optimization has permeated our culture at large, it is Gen Z that has grown up in era when technology has enabled them to optimize everything from their sleep and their workouts to their study habits and even their intellect.
I’ll give you an example: A stationary at-home bike can be a convenient way to work out, but a Peloton can help you optimize your workout by understanding your personal goals, collecting data about your speed and strength, and suggesting programming that will help you not just exercise, but advance. Convenience seeks to eliminate effort; optimization seeks to perfect.
The unintended consequences of this The Future of Optimization obsession are many, and I’ll write about them in another essay. As some of you may already be thinking, our endless quest for self-improvement and perfection has downsides.
For now, we’ll explore the implications for the future.
1. Throughout the pandemic, there have been sentimental conversations about the loss of meaningful workplace interactions. The water-cooler talk, serendipitous conversation, the general white space of in-person work.
However, the traditional workplace also has a lot of meaningless interactions. Distractions, gossip, workplace politics, useless meetings, etc. While much of the white-collar workforce has been working from home, many people have figured out how to optimize their time.
They use 15-minute breaks for exercise, throw laundry in the machine between meetings, spend lunchtime with children, etc. This kind of personal control could continue to reduce tolerance for suboptimal use of time.
2. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a trend of remote workers taking on two full-time jobs.
There are some ethical issues with this but this idea of “poly-work” was discussed even before most companies were forced to be remote. Some workers are figuring out how to make as much as money as possible by optimizing their tech and their time.
3. Jerry Seinfeld once said in an interview, “Nothing truly great is efficient.” Taking a hard look at optimization presents an opportunity for productive cross-generational mentorship. Seasoned leaders can revisit processes and procedures objectively and explore where opportunities for The Future of Optimization exist.
On the flip side, young employees can be trained to identify the best places for suboptimal experiences. Innovation, creativity, and team culture can have a hard time flourishing in an environment hyper-focused on optimization.
4. Brands can reframe personalization as The Future of Optimization, not specialness. Rather than asking, “How can we make our customer feel special?” Companies can ask, “How can we make this product or service as effective as possible for the people we’re trying to serve?”
The bottom line is: the ability to optimize has already brought us many benefits and consequences are sure to follow, but our societal drive for perfection isn’t going away anytime soon.
The Future of Optimization Article written by Kim Lear and originally published on Inlay Insights
Contact Us at WeSpeak Global and follow us on Twitter
Author Profile
The articles, video and images embedded on these pages are from various speakers and talent.
These remain the property of its owner and are not affiliated with or endorsed by WeSpeak Global.
As 2021 comes to an end, what did you rethink Keys to Build Resilience or unlearn over the past couple of years in order to personally and professionally survive and thrive? I’ll go first. Being well versed in the science of change didn’t stop me from initially doubting the success of virtual events. After all, […]
Companies are constantly adapting to provide Habits of Collaborative Leaders as the most efficient and productive work environments for the employees. The team – not the individual contributor – is the new secret for business success. U.S companies spent $12 billion on leadership development. 56% of company leaders say they will soon face a shortage […]
Like so many around the world, we are also taking this time to venture near – to Discovering our doorsteps what beautiful destinations we have close to us, some that we had overlooked for the more exotic. Every week we’ll be sharing a new destination in Turkey, trying to unravel the mysteries – one road […]
If you’ve ever launched something as 3-2-1 Liftoff!, whether it is a basketball shot, a new business, or the 2 Liter bottle rocket for your kid’s science project, you know the arc of senses one feels in each attempt to succeed as we let go of our security and send the object into motion to […]
Don’t you just love when prospects ask you that question? – What Makes You Different? If you recognize the question as the true trap that it is, and you know how to deal with it, then you love it. If you don’t treat that question as the trap that it is, you’re toast. For […]
An interesting story of the emergence of Ferrero and Lessons Leading to Success, the famous world company with a turnover of more than 10 billion dollars, producing popular sweets and famous chocolate eggs with funny toys inside. It all started shortly after the end of World War II in a small provincial Italian town. Michele Ferrero […]
Without exaggerating, there are literally hundreds of ways of becoming more self- aware, and hence be more Adaptable to embrace and think through opportunities and / or adversity. As a Preferred Partner in South Africa for the Six Seconds EQ Worldwide Network (in 174 countries), we talk about ‘emotions driving people, and people driving performance’. […]
If we are going to do new things to survive in the Industrial Age, we are going to meet uncertainty. If we are going to meet uncertainty, we are going to discover risk. A show of hands… How many people, when you were 12, 13, 14 years of age, had a mother or a father […]
Our Mission
© All rights reserved 2025. Created using VOXEL THEME
