Practice existential flexibility before you need it or risk irrelevance

A local newspaper still made good money from inserts and Sunday print. The publisher also believed their mission was to keep the city well‑informed and constructively noisy. A younger editor asked for a pre‑mortem. They put the sacred cow on the wall: “print ads and inserts.” Why it existed: a world where attention pooled in paper. They listed reasons for failure—ad buyers age out, targeting improves online, a recession squeezes small businesses. The room was mostly quiet, apart from a printer humming in the back.

They then prototyped the offense. If the cause is an informed city, how else could they do it? They launched a tiny paid membership with exclusive local explainers, monthly Q&As at the library, and a newsletter that highlighted civic wins. A reporter added a micro‑anecdote: “At the first Q&A, a reader brought us tamales and asked about bus routes. It felt like journalism instead of chasing clicks.”

Budget was tight, so they earmarked 5% of resources for learning bets. The publisher said, “We might cannibalize some print. We’ll measure whether people feel more informed and whether we surface more useful stories.” Two months in, print was steady, membership was small but engaged, and sources got braver because the tone had shifted. They weren’t predicting the future. They were preparing to flex toward their cause, not away from it.

Strategy research calls this creating real options: small, staged investments that preserve the ability to pivot. It requires identity clarity and managerial courage because today’s profit can hide tomorrow’s rot. Existential flexibility is offensive, done while you still have strength. Practiced early, it keeps you relevant without losing yourself.

Write down the thing you defend most and why it exists. With your team, run a five‑year pre‑mortem and list realistic failure reasons. Choose one bold shift that would advance your cause in that future and build a small prototype in the next 30–60 days. Set aside a sliver of budget as a courage fund and review learning, not just ROI. Put the first review on the calendar now.