Innovation, New Ideas and How The World is Changing

Why Making Something 10x Better Is Easier Than 10% Improvement

Jorge

Most leaders are trapped in the incremental improvement mindset. They’re obsessing over 10% gains while their competitors are building something entirely different.

Here’s the counterintuitive truth: making something 10 times better is often easier than making it 10 percent better.

Sounds backwards? It’s not. Let me explain why, and how you can use this to your advantage.

The Problem: We’re All Shooting Arrows at the Wrong Target

Walk into any boardroom and you’ll hear the same conversations. How do we increase conversion rates by 5%? How do we cut costs by 10%? How do we speed up delivery by 15%?

Everyone’s playing the optimization game; squeezing marginal improvements from existing systems.

But here’s what I’ve learned after years of building and scaling businesses: incremental thinking keeps you trapped in the current paradigm. You’re essentially breeding faster horses while someone else is inventing the automobile.

The problem isn’t your effort level. You can’t work your way to 10x results with 10% thinking.

Why 10% Improvements Are Actually Harder

Let me share what Astro Teller from Google X calls “the two paths to innovation”:

Path 1: The 10% Improvement Track

Path 2: The 10x Improvement Track

Here’s the kicker: Path 1 is actually more crowded and competitive. When you’re chasing 10% gains, you’re fighting for scraps with every other company in your space. The margins are thin; the competition is fierce.

Path 2? Most people won’t even attempt it. They’re too scared to break their existing systems.

The 10x Advantage: First Principles Over Best Practices

Ten years ago, I watched a logistics company spend 18 months optimizing its delivery routes. They used advanced algorithms, hired consultants, and achieved a respectable 12% efficiency gain.

Meanwhile, a startup ignored traditional delivery entirely. They built a network of local pickup points and convinced customers to collect their own packages. Result? 300% cost reduction and faster delivery times.

Same problem. Completely different approach.

The logistics company was shooting arrows at the target. The startup moved the target entirely.

This is first principles thinking in action:

  1. Break down the problem to its fundamental components
  2. Identify which assumptions you’re taking for granted
  3. Rebuild the solution from the ground up
  4. Ignore what “everyone knows” about your industry

Three Questions That Unlock 10x Thinking

Before your next strategy session, ask these questions:

Question 1: What would this look like if we were starting from scratch today? Remove the baggage of existing systems, processes, and “the way we’ve always done it.”

Question 2: What assumptions are we making that might not be true? List every “fact” about your industry, then systematically challenge each one.

Question 3: What would we do if our current approach was impossible? Force yourself into creative problem-solving mode by removing your default options.

The Real Secret: Bravery Over Resources

Most leaders think 10x results require 10x resources. Wrong.

They require 10x courage.

Courage to abandon systems that are “working fine.” Courage to admit that your current approach might be fundamentally flawed. Courage to look stupid while you figure out something completely different.

Teller puts it perfectly: “You can trade in a ton of effort in exchange for just the right perspective.”

The companies achieving 10x results aren’t working harder, they’re working on different problems entirely.

Your 10x Implementation Framework

Here’s how to apply this starting tomorrow:

Step 1: Identify your constraint. What’s the one thing that, if solved differently, would make everything else irrelevant?

Step 2: Question the foundation. Why does this constraint exist? What assumptions built this limitation into your system?

Step 3: Explore impossible solutions. If you couldn’t solve this the conventional way, what would you try? Write down the “crazy” ideas.

Step 4: Find your minimum viable difference. What’s the smallest version of a radically different approach you could test?

Step 5: Measure different metrics. Ten percent thinking uses existing KPIs. Ten x thinking often requires entirely new measurements.

The Bottom Line

Your competition is optimizing for faster horses. While they’re focused on incremental gains, you have the opportunity to build the automobile.

The question isn’t whether you have the resources for 10x improvement. The question is whether you have the courage to abandon 10% thinking.

Stop shooting arrows. Move the target.

Ask yourself: What’s one assumption in your industry that everyone treats as fact but might actually be wrong? That’s probably where your 10x opportunity is hiding.

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