Leverage: Value That You’re Leaving on the Table
Every business holds untapped value. Not someday value. Today’s.
Every business holds untapped value. Not someday value. Today’s. Yet it’s often left dormant - in processes, know-how, underused assets, and overlooked markets.
My friend, strategist
talks about it often as latent value. It represents the earnings, market share, and influence left on the table. Tomorrow’s global success depends on what we do with it now.Often the temptation is to do more more. Yet that approach is out of step in today’s climate of contraction, rationalisation, and laying low. It’s about doing smarter, and doing what’s relevant for today’s business climate.
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” - Winston Churchill
Today’s digital, distributed world means leverage is no longer reserved for large multinationals. With the right lens and smart application, small and mid-sized firms can stretch further, faster, with less.
Where Leverage Lives:
What You Know: IP, processes, insights, data, content. Codify it. Licence it. Monetise it.
- Pink Lady® apples, developed in Western Australia, are now grown under licence in over 120 countries - an IP export hiding in plain sight.Who You Know: Partners, communities, customers. Tap shared reach and trust.
- Jollibee, from the Philippines, expanded across Asia and the US by franchising its recipes and restaurant systems - tapping into communities aboad seeking regional flavour while leveraging global structure.How You Work: Experiment to expand. Automate. Package. Repeat. Shift from effort to outcomes.
- Kumon exports its learning system, not its teachers - franchisees adopt the method, enabling global scale through repeatable delivery.
What You’ve Built: Systems, software, certifications, stories. Apply them in more places.
- BlueScope’s COLORBOND® steel is produced under licence globally - not as commodity steel, but as a trusted system adapted to local needs.
Leverage turns existing capability into commercial advantage.
“Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it’s about deliberately choosing to be different.” - Michael Porter
Multi-market or global growth doesn’t need more people, money, or travel. It often needs more intelligent use of what’s already within our businesses.
The latent value within our organisations and countries is astounding. Taking a moment to consider what this might look like is time well spent. Thanks for some great examples @SophieKrantz
Not yet going global? Trying to survive? Then consider this.
What do you know that other parts of the organisation could use?
Who do you know that could help amplify the impact of what you do?
What have you learned from experimenting with new ideas that could allow others to leapfrog the early learning and become effectively more quickly?
What can you reuse or modify that you have already developed that your market needs?
Latent value - connections, know how, models, platforms and processes can all be leveraged with a bit of imagination. Put on your x-ray vision goggles and see what you can find.