We are trained to worship at the altar of optimization.
In an MBA classroom, efficiency is the holy grail. We look for the wasted second, the idle dollar, and the redundant process. We believe that a business with no “slack” is a business at its peak.
This is a dangerous oversimplification.
Efficiency is often just a synonym for fragility.
When you optimize a system for a single, predictable outcome, you are making a silent trade-off: you are trading resilience for margin. You are betting that the future will look exactly like the past.
A supply chain with zero waste is a supply chain that breaks during a storm. A schedule with no white space is a leader who has no time to think when the market shifts. A team with no “extra” capacity is a team that cannot innovate because they are too busy surviving the status quo.
The “slack” we try so hard to eliminate is actually the insurance policy for the unknown.
True leadership is not about squeezing the last drop of productivity out of the present. It is about understanding the value of the margin.
The risk we ignore is the “Black Swan” event that turns our lean machine into a pile of scrap. We surface a hidden cost: the more efficient you become, the less adaptable you are.
The goal isn’t to be fast. The goal is to be right over the long term. And being right requires the space to pivot, the capital to experiment, and the mental discipline to remain inefficient in the right places.
If your organization is running at 100% capacity, you aren’t winning. You are stuck.
Where in your business have you optimized away your ability to react?
I am a Canadian insurance and investment professional and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Chazz Financial Inc. and Chazz Capital Assets. I write about leadership, markets, insurance, investing, and decision making, with a focus on how structure and incentives shape outcomes.
I hold a business degree and I am a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI®), a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®), a Chartered Financial Planner®, a Certified Health Specialist and a Mutual Fund Investment Representative.
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