The Corvus Move

Any startup competing against a well-funded incumbent.

The symptom of fighting on the wrong axis: working harder, spending more, and falling further behind. You are fighting on terrain the incumbent chose. The corvus move requires two steps. First, identify the dimension on which the incumbent's greatest strength becomes a liability. Amazon's massive warehouse network is a strength in delivery speed and a liability in curation (too many products to curate well). Google's dominance in search is a strength in breadth and a liability in trust (advertising incentives corrupt results). The incumbent's investment in the old axis is precisely what prevents them from competing on the new one, because shifting would require writing down the asset they spent decades building. Second, restructure your entire operation around the new axis. Not as a feature. As the definition of the contest. Steph Curry did not add three-point shooting to a conventional game plan. He rebuilt the entire game of basketball around the three-point line so that the opposing center's size, the traditional axis of dominance, became a liability (too slow to close out at the perimeter).

Career competition within an organization.

Competing for the same promotion on the same criteria as everyone else is playing the incumbent's game. The internal corvus move: identify a capability the organization needs but has not yet defined as a promotion criterion. Build that capability visibly. When the promotion committee evaluates candidates on the traditional criteria, you will look like one of several qualified options. When they evaluate candidates on the dimension nobody else has claimed, you will be the only option. The specific implementation: find the problem your organization complains about but nobody owns. Volunteer to solve it. If the problem matters and you solve it, you have created a new axis of competition where you are the only contestant.