Latest / Black Box Theory Podcast / What Xbox Gets Right That Most Companies Don't
Transcript
- Malcolm: Xbox is an example of like one of the clearest examples of like doing everything that the consumer wants. They took Copilot Thomas: Mm-hmm. Malcolm: out of Xbox, they went back to it being a primarily gaming system, right? They they they made sure that that licensing games actually means that you own them. They went back to the original Xbox logo. They've they're bringing back Xbox. Like they're doing everything that like gamers want, that the that the people that buy Xbox wants. They're doing everything right. And it's like, it's not even so much about like having like the this incredible foresight to to know like what what everyone. It's just like, it's just rolling back on the the stupid decisions that were done before. Like just doing the most obvious common sense things that are going to quickly benefit, like, you know. everyone that that that that's that's a gamer, right? So it's like that's an example of what I mean when I say like a a a a business un even the Asa, the CEO, right? Like like she's literally she literally lives on Twitter and like talks to people. Like she wants to know, like she wants to get their feedback. Like, what do you guys want? Do you like this? Do you not like this? Like like I I've I've never like it's very rare to see a CEO of someone of her stature to be like as in the field as she is and as hands on and as interactive with like real fans and real people that use Xbox. 'cause a lot of CEOs act like just like a different like race than human. Like like they're just so superior and just so kind of like out of touch with reality. It's very rare to see that, that down to earth, like hands on approach. But I think that's exactly what like companies like a Nike needs, right? Like like you have to I feel like you have to I feel like once you get to a certain market cap and a certain level and certain size and popularity, you start to lose that original creativity and that original spark that got people to become your base in the first place. but yeah, man. Thomas: mean th that's what I just want to add that's kind of what we're seeing with a lot of these companies trying to be more more agile just Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: in general is because like bro you you a company can get too big and start to suffer from not having the same view. I mean you think about any Malcolm: Facts. Suffering from success. Thomas: you suffer some from success like bro think about any company where it was like it was perfect at one point. It was great. It was Producing the way you wanted it produced. It had products you wanted. It felt good. It felt homey. And then when that company grows, all of that I guess magic is is for lack of better terms gone because they're Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: the scope is is wider. They don't care. They're not in touch. They feel like they have you. It's the same concept of you know, have have like friends and and build them up. If you're a small company and then you get to a point and now you start taxing everybody more because you've already done the groundwork to say, hey, you know, we've built that that trust, but then you go and break it. So I think I just wanted to add that like a if a company gets too big, sometimes they need to take a step back. And that doesn't mean lay everyone off. That doesn't mean fire everyone. That just means from a leadership perspective, get off your high horse, get back in the field, understand what people want, connect with the people. And improve from there. Your company can stay large, but maybe you just need to change how operations go. But I think unfortunately a lot of companies would rather self destruct and and have an anthropics models come in and and and rip them apart before they do the right thing. Malcolm: Yeah. No, no, no.