One concept that fascinates me is the distinction between competence problems and coordination problems.

It fascinates me is because solving competence problems — a skills gap — often produces linear gains, but solving coordination problems — improving how things work together — can unblock an entire system, creating non-linear payoffs. With competence improvements we get 1+1+1 = 3. With coordination improvements we can get 1+1+1 = 42.

This theory sits behind a lot of my content because I believe that marketing — by which I mean activities that create value for customers — suffers tremendous coordination problems.

However, when brand management, advertising, product development and customer experience work together as a mutually reinforcing system — rather than discrete, insular disciplines — the results can be spectacular.

This is why I’m trying to encourage CX practitioners to learn about and value other marketing activities — so they can make their work superadditive.

This is the direction I think we need to go in to flourish and I’m going to keep banging the drum and hope people notice. I welcome your comments, critique or insights on the theory — it is after all, just an idea — let’s see if we can move forward together.

See this post on LinkedIn