Remember the Asymptote
Finding the optimal ROI on time, money, and energy (TME) expenditures and investments is one of the most important skills of effective leadership, especially when it comes making meaningful progress in more complex goals like improving “efficiency,” “profitability,” or even “office culture.” One helpful tip for finding some balance in the mix is to pause from time to time and Remember the Asymptote.
As a rough refresher from your 7th grade Geometry course, an Asymptote is a curve that perpetually approaches but never reaches an axis on a graph. The inherent unreachability element here is indeed the central factor of what I call Asymptotic Goals like “improve X.” However, just because these goals are ultimately unreachable in any absolute fashion doesn’t mean that there isn’t tremendous value to be gained by striving for them. The key challenge lies in finding the optimal relationship between the striving and what is actually realized by so doing. Therefore, for our purposes here Remember the Asymptote embodies two further concepts beyond simple “unreachability” that help anchor our ideal aspirations firmly into the hard ground of reality when searching for that nebulous optimal balance.
The first additional thing I want to point out via the Asymptote metaphor is that we often make a LOT of progress towards our goals early on in the process. Simply bringing focus onto the goal, crystalizing our intent, and putting TME into action can accomplish a great deal in a short amount of time. This high ROI in the early stages should be expected, and the feast of rewards that follow should definitely be enjoyed and celebrated. However, the curve of TME expenditures vs ROI returns will surely bend more and more, and soon enough it gets tricky to measure how much more TME investment is “worth it,” especially as other lost opportunity costs start to mount up.
A good example of this process can be seen with the development of the jet engine. It came on the scene in the early 40’s, but had totally taken over almost all military and commercial airline production by the late 60’s.
This brings us to the second concept, the Law of Diminishing Returns. Simply stated, at some point the absolute value of TME invested in something, be it a goal, project, or even relationship, fails to yield correspondingly higher returns. At this point, additional TME is just a bad investment, period. This is especially true for Leaders who face almost limitless possibility, but only have finite TME available. Identifying these tipping points and stopping short of them is the difference between long term success and sudden, catastrophic failure.
Continuing with the jet engine example, it soon became apparent that the early increases in speed, range, altitude, and efficiency that jet engines provided over piston-powered propeller engines were not limitless. The hard reality of material science, atmospheric forces, and even human pilot needs began to require exponential costs for limited to negative gains. It can be argued that the high point of this push past the tipping point of TME vs ROI was the supersonic Concorde which could cruise along at 1,350 mph. For comparison, commercial flights now operate very comfortably in the much slower yet optimally balanced zone of about 550 – 600mph.
Effective Leadership in today’s VUCA world is becoming increasingly rare. A great way to stand out from your peers and colleagues is to manage your total TME investments and expenditures wisely by tracking the resulting ROI against them. Prioritize the identification of those tipping points of diminishing returns, and then back up a step or 2.
Finding the optimal balance between TME and ROI is a smart move, and establishing a portfolio of work characterized by these moves will truly set you apart. A key to getting there is to Remember the Asymptote.
