Optimize Inc.

02/23/2026

https://optimizeinc.net/the-strategy-page-new-fed-chair-edition/

02/13/2026

See my post on the Vistage Research Center on how to get the most out of your employees in 2026 and beyond.

Discover productivity trends for 2026 that help leaders reduce burnout, sharpen priorities, and build systems that scale performance.

02/06/2026

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/marcemmer_seemingly-minor-forces-are-reshaping-supply-activity-7425221343429795840-AhZs?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAAeqnkBaunE9zdIE_xUTLqiSqF3WltTVns

Seemingly minor forces are reshaping supply and demand faster than most planning cycles can absorb. This edition of The Strategy Page explores what leaders need to recognize sooner.

02/03/2026

The robots are coming. See the latest from CES.

The Consumer Electronics Show The Rise of Digital Twins Our Geo-political POV Recommended Podcast – Protests in Iran Rage; Venezuela’s Future The Consumer Electronics Show, held each January in Las Vegas, has always been a crystal ball for where technology is heading next. And this year, it was ...

12/30/2025

Such a fulfilling project working with Stanford University's Sustainability Accelerator, which has made over 80 investments to support 🌏

12/19/2025

The Strategy Page at a glance:
1. Why the -OpenAI Alliance is a Game Changer
2. When Technologies Collide, Markets Explode
3. Podcast - Diary of a CEO: Confidence Can Be Taught
4. Video - Marc's Minute: Objectives & Key Results (OKRs)
5. Talk: How the Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

At a glance: Why the Disney-OpenAI Alliance is a Game Changer When Technologies Collide, Markets Explode Podcast - Diary of a CEO: Confidence Can Be Taught Video - Marc's Minute: Objectives & Key Results (OKR's) TED Talk: How the Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life The end of the year is alwa

11/27/2025

Happy Thanksgiving from Optimize. Grateful for our clients, families, friends, and the people who make our work possible.

11/05/2025

2026 won’t be a year of boom or bust.
It will be a year of discipline.

Growth is slowing.
Inflation isn’t going away.
And the “no-hire/no-fire” job market is rewriting the rules for SMBs.

In this summary of our Business Trends series, we identified five forces reshaping the next cycle:

1️⃣ A cooling economy with sticky inflation
2️⃣ A shrinking and disengaged workforce
3️⃣ Exploding tech capability (and complexity)
4️⃣ AI going mainstream in every business function
5️⃣ A widening gap between companies that adapt and those that don’t

As I told Vistage members: the goal isn’t to predict the economy; it’s to control what’s controllable.

👉 How are you balancing optimism with realism heading into 2026?

Discover the 5 forces shaping 2026 and beyond — and how CEOs can lead through inflation, talent scarcity, and AI-driven transformation.

10/28/2025

What if the smartest move in 2026 isn’t how much you grow, but how well you protect what you’ve built?

For the last decade, CEOs chased expansion with brute force: hires, acquisitions, new channels. But my latest Vistage Economic Trends post (part IV in our series) suggests a different game-plan ahead: slower growth, higher costs, and margin pressure on the rise.

That means the business that wins in the next cycle will flip the script: stop thinking only “How do I grow revenue by X%?” and ask “How do I protect profit by Y%?”

Here are three moves to start today:

💡Review your cost–to–serve model. Are you carrying hidden margin-drains from complexity or scope creep?
💡Re-assess your pricing discipline. With inflation and rate pressure still lurking, leaving margin on the table is risky.
💡Turn your leadership team’s agenda from “growth plans” to “margin-defense playbook.” Growth is still good, but only if the profit foundation is solid.

Which move will you start this quarter?

A) cost-to-serve modelling
B) pricing review
C) leadership agenda shift?

Thanks to my peers and clients for the conversations this month that sharpened my thinking on this.

Vistage speaker Marc Emmer shares the 2026 SMB outlook — stagflation, tariffs, and how leaders can protect profits and find growth.

10/27/2025

Something happens when you get out of the office.

This week, we gathered with clients at a quiet farmhouse outside Charleston for our strategic planning retreat.

No conference rooms. No emails. Just big thinking.

We revisited their long-term vision and pressure-tested their roadmap for 2026 and beyond—asking the same question we ask all our clients:

Are we solving tomorrow’s problems, or just optimizing yesterday’s playbook?

It’s amazing how clarity shows up when you change your surroundings.

Where do you go when you need to think long-term—boardroom, off-site, or solo somewhere quiet?

09/24/2025

just announced its entry into the Las Vegas autonomous vehicle market. For context: Zoox is owned by Amazon. That now puts Amazon, Google, and Tesla in direct competition for autonomous dominance.

A few observations stand out:

📌Convergence of ecosystems: For Amazon, autonomous ties directly to logistics, delivery, and cloud. For Google, it’s about data, AI, and mobility. For Tesla, it’s the heart of their identity.
📌Platform play vs. product play: Tesla is a product-first company. Google and Amazon are platform-first. Which approach scales better?
📌Signaling to investors: These moves show that companies see autonomy not as an experiment but as a long-term growth driver.

It raises the bigger question: when household names start embedding autonomous tech into their models, what does it mean for companies outside of Big Tech?

Autonomous used to feel like a distant future. Now it’s a competitive reality in real time.

💬 What observations do you have about companies starting to include autonomous technologies within their companies?

Five years after its $1.3 billion acquisition of Zoox, Amazon has officially entered the U.S. robotaxi race, which to date has been dominated by Alphabet’s W...

09/04/2025

🚨 Still haven’t joined our free Strategy Playbook Masterclass?

Most strategy conversations focus on what’s happening inside your organization.

But the best-performing companies are equally disciplined about monitoring what’s happening outside—shifts in demand, customer behavior, and market signals that shape the future.

That’s why we created the Strategy Playbook Masterclass, a free series where we share:

🔹 How to identify external demand KPIs before they show up in your financials
🔹 Practical frameworks to connect market trends to your strategic plan
🔹 Ways to align your leadership team around the signals that matter most

If you haven’t subscribed yet, it’s available at no cost for subscribers: https://zc.vg/cvEln

It’s not theory; it’s what we use with mid-market executives every day to stay ahead of the competition.