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I have driven the development and management of a number of businesses within the…
Articles by Rick
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The user interface moment and the slow death of the Smartphone
The user interface moment and the slow death of the Smartphone
I came across this fairly recent Metaverse Explained video a few days ago and that got me thinking about some of the…
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African mobile operators are missing an opportunity
African mobile operators are missing an opportunity
(This piece was written for the SA MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) and originally published on the MMA SA site and…
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Rick Joubert posted thisOver the past month I've spent time inside businesses that couldn't look more different. A SaaS platform. A consumer retail brand. A technology business. An early-stage venture. Different industries, leadership teams, markets and challenges. It was interesting to see how much time, talent and investment was being directed towards solving problems that weren't actually constraining growth. The conversation changes completely when you stop asking: "What should we improve?" ...and start asking: "What is the single capability this organisation doesn't yet have that would remove its biggest constraint to growth?" Because the answer is rarely "more marketing" or "more technology" or even "more AI." Instead, the answer is usually an institutionalised and repeatable capability the organisation hasn't yet developed. Examples of the sort of capabilities I'm talking about: >>Observe what's really happening across the company’s growth system. >>Identify the constraint that's actually governing performance. >>Generate evidence instead of opinion. >>Run structured experiments instead of debating hypotheses. >>Coordinate action across functions rather than optimise them in isolation. I'd be interested to hear whether this resonates with anyone else. Have you also found that it’s often easier to solve problems than it is knowing which problem is actually worth solving?
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Rick Joubert posted thisWhy do some organisations seem to become better at growth every year, while others continue investing in marketing, technology and data without seeing the same acceleration? I don't think the answer is in more or better marketing. In fact, many of the world's fastest-growing businesses appear to think about growth very differently. They don't treat growth as a marketing function. They treat it as an organisational capability. Marketing teams. Product teams. Data teams. Lifecycle. Experimentation. AI. Customer insight. Commercial decision-making. These aren't separate initiatives. They're all part of the same growth system and each provides important context for the others. Traditional organisations often optimise individual functions. High-growth organisations seem to spend far more time improving the growth system that connects those functions together. That's a subtle but important difference. Every organisation has a growth strategy. The organisations that outperform over the next decade will be the ones that also have a strategy for becoming better at growth itself.
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Rick Joubert posted thisMost organisations have plenty of data but surprisingly little visibility. It's one of the more interesting contradictions of modern business. We've spent the last decade collecting more data than at any other point in history. Marketing Analytics. CRM. Finance. Product usage. Customer support. Operations. Dashboards everywhere. And yet many leadership teams still struggle to answer surprisingly simple questions. Where is growth actually breaking down? Which part of the system deserves attention first? What has changed? What matters most right now? Having more data and more dashboards doesn't automatically create visibility. Data tells you what happened. Visibility helps you see how your growth system is actually behaving. Those are not the same thing. In a recent assessment of 80 African tech companies, one recurring pattern wasn't a shortage of data—it was surprisingly limited visibility into some of the systems driving growth. Perhaps the challenge isn't collecting more information. Perhaps it's learning to see what matters. Where do you think the biggest gap usually exists between having data - and actually having visibility of what’s driving or constraining growth?
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Rick Joubert posted thisI've been thinking more about my post yesterday. I suggested that many organisations don't have a shortage of ideas, great talent or data. They have a shortage of certainty. The more I think about it, the more I believe uncertainty is the upstream cause of many of the problems we describe as "growth problems." Most organisations focus on improving execution. But execution is downstream. Before execution comes prioritisation. Before prioritisation comes decisions. Before decisions comes understanding. And before understanding comes visibility. When leaders can't clearly see [with evidence] how growth is actually created, where it's leaking, or which initiative is most likely to move the needle, uncertainty creeps in. The result is familiar: • Too many initiatives. • Competing priorities. • Endless reporting. • Decisions driven by intuition rather than evidence. • Teams working hard, but not always on the right things. Perhaps the real competitive advantage over the next decade won't be better execution but rather reducing uncertainty faster than everyone else. As intelligence becomes increasingly abundant and accessible, reducing uncertainty may become one of the most important competitive advantages an organisation can build. What do you think? Is uncertainty an under-appreciated constraint on growth?
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Rick Joubert posted thisI've spent the last few months immersed in the early stages of a new venture along with co-founder Steven Waidelich - who’s spent his career operating at the highest levels of growth practitioner execution in digital media and digital product (and related) roles. During this time, engaging in conversations with clients and other stakeholders, I’ve been reminded of some truths learned over the course of my career. Most organisations don't suffer from a shortage of ideas, talent or data. They suffer from uncertainty. Which initiative deserves investment? Which metric actually matters? Where is growth really being created—or quietly leaking away? Are these questions being asked in silos internally or are organisations optimising the levers of growth taking account of their overall organisational Growth System Map™? Who is responsible for measuring, analysing, quantifying and diagnosing the constraints to organisational or product growth? Do the capabilities exist internally to set up structured experiments and simulations to validate hypotheses? And that’s just the diagnostic side of growth constraint management. Effective orchestration of the constraint resolution execution is what enables the change which unlocks the growth - but that’s a conversation for another day. These are some of the questions and problems we're interested in at Polarix. I’ll be sharing more about this here - and looking forward to the conversation.
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Rick Joubert shared thisA slightly more descriptive report providing some colour around the thinking and synergy. I'll be cheering from the sidelines. https://lnkd.in/dYzssVjR
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Rick Joubert shared thisThe best part about creating something great is doing it with great people. And if you can do for sixteen years what most people call “work” when really you’re having the time of your life, then you should be filled with gratitude, and I am. Thank you to the Yonder leadership team, always willing to be led but never afraid to suggest a better way. Thank you to the broader Yonder team and to every Yonderian who ever came through our doors, many of whom have gone on to do incredible things in the industry and beyond(er). Thanks to our clients many of whom we’ve served for well over a decade - for your loyalty and for the opportunities to build, innovate and execute with you. An exciting new chapter is about to start with VML Yonder, where for Yonder’s people and clients, nothing is lost and much is gained. My Yonder story ends here, but not the Yonder story. My Yonder story ends here, but not my story. For now, time to take a nice long break. https://lnkd.in/dt5hjU82EXCLUSIVE: VML integrates Yonder for tech, commerce & influence • Article • MarkLives.comEXCLUSIVE: VML integrates Yonder for tech, commerce & influence • Article • MarkLives.com
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🖖🏼 Jarred Cinman - Agreed no one know the future. So far the overall impact in SA has been subdued but yes demand for what junior devs traditionally did has been softened by AI, not because of vibe-coding but because senior devs now use AI workbenches for that..in my view junior devs still have a bright future if they're willing and able to ramp up their AI fluency and focus more on things like system design, database work, security work - just not coding by hand anymore. The demand for humans who can help businesses (at technical level) understand and apply AI in their operations is in my view going to increase dramatically. But I'm also not a fortune teller :)
Rick Joubert commented on a post
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Interesting how for a few years the main narrative was "AI is going to destroy jobs" and then due to evidence of quite the opposite of that in early adopter markets, a complete 180 on the job loss narrative. 🖖🏼 Jarred Cinman is holding the line on the original belief. Maybe it's really a sectoral thing. Take software devs - completely new way of working but still working..Unknowable until the evidence presents itself.
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3w
This is true. Unfortunately agencies (and often their client in the marketing team) don't have the full portfolio of evidence. Too often the evidence to inform strategic decisions around allocation (both channels and spend level) is not available to the people in the room. Usually it's hiding in another silo in the commercial growth system.
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Rick Joubert liked thisRick Joubert liked thisI had the privilege of delivering a keynote for Emeritus in the Knowledge city in Hyderabad on how to build an AI ready enterprise. Some of my key highlights were : The biggest risk with AI is going too fast with AI. The second biggest risk is going too slow. Sometimes those positions swop. So you need “responsible speed”. AI is the great leveller and creates a flat earth. You can’t win by being on the same level as your competitors. What’s your differentiation if everyone had access to the same Intelligence? Talent no longer means being the smartest ? So how do we redefine talent in the new age Most AI flaws like hallucination , errors and threats are not bugs. They are features. That’s how LLM’s work. Don’t like it ? Then maybe you need something other than LLM’s Cognitive Atrophy and automation bias will destroy your future capabilities . So design for “flight simulators” today. Minimise your data foot print. Can you anonymize it. Can you aggregate it. Can you use synthetic data ? Costs of AI are guaranteed. Benefits and risks are less clear. AI can fail catastrophically. Not like typical IT. That’s why you can’t insure for this risk! We have no idea how to price this risk We can’t guarantee employees future employment. But if they come on the journey with us we can we guarantee future employability.
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Rick Joubert reacted on thisRick Joubert reacted on thisI haven’t posted here in a while, but I wanted to share a personal creative milestone that has completely reshaped how I approach my work as a Creative Strategist and Technologist. I’ve spent the past few months intentionally stepping away from screens to focus on traditional drawing practice, working strictly with pencil and paper. When you eliminate digital shortcuts, you're forced to confront the essence of creativity: Value over noise: Understanding contrast and structure matters far more than surface details. Intentionality: Every stroke carries weight because there’s no Ctrl+Z. Human nuance: Capturing character, expression and mood requires deep, patient observation. In strategy and creative technology, it’s easy to get caught up in the latest toolsets or platforms. But real innovation always comes down to fundamental human connection, clear direction and disciplined execution. Technique changes, but the core principles of human creativity remain unchanged. #CreativeTechnology #DesignProcess #Leadership #ArtAndTechnology #CreativeDirection
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Rick Joubert liked thisRick Joubert liked thisWhen we deploy fibertime™ in townships we need accurate ground data so that we can plan our network. The problem is the municipal and census data on townships is definitely not accurate! So we started using drones to create our own up-to-date mapping info using 3D aerial imagery that can be used for engineering drawings that are in turn submitted to municipalities for wayleaves. After spending millions on drone surveys, we said f—k it, let’s just buy a drone company. It’s cheaper than renting, and most importantly, it’s faster! No waiting in the queue. Very happy to welcome FlightPlan to the fibertime™ family 😀. Our pipeline is now close to one million homes, all of which have to be accurately plotted before they can be connected to fiber. Drones are the answer. Wian Meier, Zandi Jacobs, and team are gonna be busy. Onwards and upwards 🚀
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Rick Joubert liked thisRick Joubert liked thisIt’s easy, when you’re building an entrepreneurial business, to spend a lot of time talking about the challenges. Building a brand from scratch. Juggling terrible cash flows. Trading through tough retail winters. And dealing with the endless curveballs that come with trying to build something meaningful. But for every dip, there are also some pretty awesome rises. And often, they come from unexpected moments. Chance encounters with people who discover your brand, genuinely connect with what you stand for, and remind you why you put the time in. Today, Jasper Eales Howie Kahn and I had one of those moments, meeting two awesome people in Rita Ora and Taika Waititi, who are spending some time in South Africa and happened to stumble across Sealand Gear and really buy into what we stand for. For all the tough moments that come with entrepreneurship, it’s days like today that I suspect you remember when you eventually look back on the journey. Today was a good day.
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