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Forbes
04-08-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Emotional Cost Of The Status Quo
Jonathan Wagner is the Chief Commerical Officer of Alianza, a leading cloud communications platform for telco service providers. Stability is often treated as a virtue in boardrooms—something to strive for, protect and reward. But too often, it's just fear with a better PR team. It looks like control, predictability and low risk. But behind the scenes, it's quietly killing progress. While sticking to what's familiar often feels like a strength, it can slowly turn into a reluctance to move at all. Leaders cling to old playbooks like they're shields against failure, but let's call it what it is: stuck. Most companies don't fall behind because they made a reckless move. They fall behind because they waited too long to make any move. This can lead to missed opportunities, stalled growth and fading employee morale. But under the surface, there's an even greater issue: fear of change, of being wrong and of letting go of what you know and what you're good at. And in this hesitation, companies lose ground. When What's Familiar Becomes Risky It's easy to understand why companies hang on to what they know. Stability and stagnation can look like success—steady numbers, repeatable processes, a team that operates like a well-oiled machine—but over time, that comfort may no longer be the best option, just the known option. This is not a new phenomenon in my industry of telecommunications, where countless platforms have long passed their prime, customer experiences have remained unchanged for years and organizational structures no longer align with the core strategy. And, even worse, everyone knows that change is overdue, but nobody wants to be the one to push the first domino. This is the real danger of the status quo. It gives leaders the cover to delay hard decisions, punt transformation down the road and avoid discomfort in the name of 'not rocking the boat." Legacy doesn't mean loyal; it means late. However, if I know anything to be true, it's that comfort doesn't drive progress. This mindset bleeds into the culture, innovation stops, people disengage and companies fail. Ultimately, playing it safe becomes the biggest risk of all. The Case For Trusted Disruption So how do you shake things up without feeling like you're tearing everything down? How do you drive bold change without losing the trust of employees and stakeholders? You lead with Trusted Disruption, a mindset that challenges what's broken while still reinforcing what matters. It's not about ego-driven reinvention or change for the sake of headlines. You don't need a revolution. You need momentum with meaning. Here's what that looks like in practice. First, be ruthlessly honest about what's not working. That means gathering input from all corners of the business and listening without defensiveness. Friction points don't fix themselves, and it's the leader's job to surface them and name them clearly. Then, instead of pushing change top-down, build coalitions inside your company. Identify what areas and teams can be early adopters and natural influencers. Give them a seat at the table too, because when people help shape a decision, they're far more likely to rally behind it. Lastly, don't wait to have all the answers before you start communicating. Share the why, show the path and admit what's still a work in progress. And when possible, show change in action. Run pilots, sunset small systems and test ideas with real customers (ideally, ones you have good relationships with). Trusted Disruption isn't about getting everyone to agree; it's about giving them the respect, context and clarity they deserve, and inviting them to come along for the ride. No Such Thing As Neutral The hard truth is that the companies that survive the next decade won't be the ones that avoid risk. They'll be the ones that recognize that inaction is a risk and that 'business as usual' is anything but. Yes, letting go of the status quo takes nerve, empathy and a willingness to trade certainty for possibility. But the alternative of staying stuck is far worse. Playing it safe isn't safe; it's just slow failure with a nicer view. Trusted Disruption gives leaders a way to move forward without leaving trust behind. It doesn't guarantee comfort, but it does create clarity, and that's what unlocks the real momentum. So, if you find yourself defending the way things are simply because it's the way things have always been, it's time to ask a harder question: Are you protecting the business or just your comfort? Comfort is expensive, and the price keeps going up. Forbes Business Development Council is an invitation-only community for sales and biz dev executives. Do I qualify?
Forbes
23-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Game Theory In Blockchain: The Invisible Hand Of Decentralized Trust
Ali Faizan Rizvi | Chief Commercial Officer | Mint Gateway. Ever wonder how nodes are incentivized in a blockchain to ensure trust, consensus and cooperation in a system with no central authority? The answer lies in game theory, the mathematical study of strategic interactions among rational agents. In the decentralized blockchain world, where participants act independently and often from self-interest, game theory provides a structured framework for designing protocols that align individual incentives with collective goals. As a business development leader with two decades in fintech strategy and a strong advocate for blockchain's potential, I've been actively working toward building decentralized ancillary ecosystems and exploring token economics for digital banking platforms. My experience in M&A has shown how incentive alignment and behavioral economics often define outcomes. Whether in finance or any trust-driven industry, game-theoretic thinking has constantly proven its value. In this piece, I'll highlight how principles of game theory play an instrumental role in driving adoption, building trust, aligning incentives and scaling value across decentralized ecosystems. Introduction To Game Theory Game theory models how individuals or groups make decisions in a situation where the outcome is impacted not just by their own actions but by others' actions as well. It analyzes strategic interactions among decision makers, often referred to as "players," each of whom selects from a set of strategies to maximize their payoff. A key objective in game theory is to identify equilibrium outcomes, particularly the Nash equilibrium, where no player can benefit by unilaterally changing their strategy. The discipline was formalized by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern in 1944 in their seminal work, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, and has since been applied extensively in economics, military strategy and now, decentralized technologies such as blockchain. In blockchain, game theory underpins the logic of trustless interactions. Without centralized enforcement, protocols rely on economic incentives to promote honest behavior, making deviations either economically infeasible or less attractive. This aligns with the principles of mechanism design, a subfield of game theory that involves structuring systems such that rational participants naturally choose to behave desirably. Why Game Theory Matters In Blockchain Unlike traditional centralized systems, blockchain networks comprise numerous independent and often anonymous participants—miners, validators, developers, users and more. Each actor is expected to behave in a way that benefits the network, and game theory ensures that their incentives align with the system's integrity. Without a governing authority, the risk of fraud, manipulation or network failure is high. Game theory ensures cooperation is the most profitable strategy, making dishonest behavior suboptimal in most scenarios. Game Theory Applications In Blockchain • Proof-Of-Work (PoW): Introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's PoW mechanism rewards miners who solve complex cryptographic puzzles, thereby securing the network. Game theory ensures that it's more profitable to play by the rules than to attack the system. • Proof-Of-Stake (PoS): In Ethereum 2.0 and similar blockchains, validators stake tokens to earn the right to propose and validate blocks. If a validator behaves maliciously, their stake is slashed. Rational participants are thus economically deterred from misbehaving. • 51% Attack Defense: As of July 17, 2025, estimates that a one-hour 51% attack on Bitcoin (PoW) would cost approximately $2.6 million, up from earlier figures due to rising network hash rates and energy costs. For PoW-based chains like Ethereum Classic, the price cost is far lower (approximately $10,489 per hour), exposing them to greater vulnerability. Game theory explains why 51% of attacks are rare despite being technically possible. In PoW, rational miners avoid attacks as they would devalue their own holdings and future rewards, making honest mining the most profitable strategy. In PoS systems like Ethereum 2.0, the cost of an attack is not computational but capital-based. Validators risk losing their staked assets and reputation, making honesty the dominant strategy. • Bitcoin, Nash Equilibrium: Bitcoin's mining mechanism operates on a Nash equilibrium, where miners are incentivized to follow the rules since deviation reduces rewards and destabilizes the network. • Ethereum 2.0, Slashing As A Deterrent: Validators proposing conflicting blocks are penalized. Game-theoretic design ensures dishonest behavior leads to greater loss than potential gain. • Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), Voting Behavior: DAOs use token-weighted voting, where rational participants align votes with financial interests. However, risks like collusion and voter apathy remain active areas of game-theoretic study. Challenges And Limitations Despite its power, game theory assumes rationality, which may not always hold. Actors may be influenced by emotion or misinformation, collude or form cartels, misunderstand incentives or lack information. Moreover, real-world scenarios often have too many variables to be modeled precisely, creating gaps between theoretical predictions and actual behavior. A March 2024 study, analyzing over 16,000 DAOs and 122,000 proposals across nine blockchains, revealed systemic vulnerabilities in DAO governance. Over 60% of proposals lacked consistency between code and explanation, undermining transparency and trust. These weaknesses underscore the importance of game theory in DAO design. Properly applied game-theoretic mechanisms, such as transparent proposal structures, slashing for dishonest actors and incentive-aligned voting, ensure integrity and prevent exploitation in DAO ecosystems. Future Outlook Game theory will remain central to blockchain's evolution, be it shaping AI-driven incentive models, cross-chain strategies or decentralized governance frameworks. As decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, DAOs and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) expand, game theory will underpin the architecture of trust and cooperation across diverse digital ecosystems. In blockchain, code may be law, but game theory is the judge. It transforms trustless environments into robust ecosystems by designing incentives that reward honesty and punish misconduct. As we shape the future of decentralized finance, identity and infrastructure, understanding the games behind the code will be as critical as the technology itself. This isn't just technical theory for business development professionals—it's strategic intelligence. Whether you're launching a new product, navigating a strategic partnership, designing a pricing model or scaling a platform, understanding how incentives shape behavior can be the difference between short-lived interest and sustainable growth. Integrating game-theoretic thinking into your go-to-market, partnership and product strategies can help ensure you're not just building tech, but trust, adoption and defensible network effects. Forbes Business Development Council is an invitation-only community for sales and biz dev executives. Do I qualify?
Bloomberg
30-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Microsoft's Sales Chief to Take Sabbatical With Layoffs Looming
Microsoft Corp.'s top sales executive is planning to take a two-month sabbatical, a move that coincides with an expected wave of terminations targeting his organization. Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff will step away for eight weeks, a company spokesperson said. Althoff 'will be back with his team in September,' the spokesperson said. The sabbatical was timed to the close of Microsoft's fiscal year, which ends Monday.
Zawya
25-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Jazeera Airways offers 15% off Payday Promo
Jazeera Airways, Kuwait's top low-cost airline, is offering a 15% off Payday Promo from 22 to 28 June 2025. The offer will be extended across all booking platforms from 23 June and is valid from 1 July to 30 September 2025. The promotion applies to nearly all Jazeera routes, except for India and inbound flights to Kuwait between 15 August and 7 September 2025. Paul Carroll, Chief Commercial Officer of Jazeera Airways, said: 'Our Payday promo - J9PAYDAY is part of our commitment to offering travelers more value and flexibility. With 15% off fares across most of our network, it's the ideal time to book that long-awaited trip—whether it's a family holiday, a cultural escape, or a beach break. With the affordable fares, passenger can even plan multiple breaks this summer to a variety of exciting destinations. We continue to listen to our customers and create seasonal offers that not only save them money but also open up new travel possibilities across our growing network.' -TradeArabia News Service Copyright 2024 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Al Bawaba
22-06-2025
- Business
- Al Bawaba
Grab 15% Off with Jazeera Airways J9PAYDAY
Jazeera Airways, Kuwait's leading low-cost airline, is making travel more rewarding this summer with its exclusive Payday Promo, offering 15% off fares to a wide range of destinations across its from 22 to 28 June 2025, the offer gives passengers the perfect opportunity to lock in great fares for their upcoming holidays. On the first day of the promotion, the discount is available exclusively through Jazeera's website, mobile app, and call center, using the promo code J9PAYDAY. From 23 June, the offer will be extended across all booking platforms. Travel is valid from 1 July to 30 September promotion applies to nearly all Jazeera routes, with the exception of India and inbound flights to Kuwait between 15 August and 7 September 2025. Paul Carroll, Chief Commercial Officer of Jazeera Airways, said: 'Our Payday promo - J9PAYDAY is part of our commitment to offering travelers more value and flexibility. With 15% off fares across most of our network, it's the ideal time to book that long-awaited trip—whether it's a family holiday, a cultural escape, or a beach break. With the affordable fares, passenger can even plan multiple breaks this summer to a variety of exciting destinations. We continue to listen to our customers and create seasonal offers that not only save them money but also open up new travel possibilities across our growing network.' © 2000 - 2025 Al Bawaba ( Signal PressWire is the world's largest independent Middle East PR distribution service.
