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Red Queen Effect
Red Queen Effect
Red Queen Effect
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Overview

You're improving, learning, getting faster, achieving more and getting ahead? No, you're not. Because everyone else is as well. 

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ecce aliud simile dissimile. Inscite autem medicinae et gubernationis ultimum cum ultimo sapientiae comparatur. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Cupit enim dícere nihil posse ad beatam vitam deesse sapienti. Et quidem saepe quaerimus verbum Latinum par Graeco et quod idem valeat; Sed nonne merninisti licere mihi ista probare, quae sunt a te dicta?

Fadio Gallo, cuius in testamento scriptum esset se ab eo rogatum ut omnis hereditas ad filiam perveniret. Nam illud quidem adduci vix possum, ut ea, quae senserit ille, tibi non vera videantur. Sed plane dicit quod intellegit. Qua igitur re ab deo vincitur, si aeternitate non vincitur? Summus dolor plures dies manere non potest? Quod non faceret, si in voluptate summum bonum poneret. Tria genera bonorum; Indicant pueri, in quibus ut in speculis natura cernitur. Quis non odit sordidos, vanos, leves, futtiles? Quem Tiberina descensio festo illo die tanto gaudio affecit, quanto L. Cuius similitudine perspecta in formarum specie ac dignitate transitum est ad honestatem dictorum atque factorum. Atque haec ita iustitiae propria sunt, ut sint virtutum reliquarum communia.

Sed tu istuc dixti bene Latine, parum plane. Quis est enim, in quo sit cupiditas, quin recte cupidus dici possit? Idemne potest esse dies saepius, qui semel fuit? Res enim concurrent contrariae. Haec bene dicuntur, nec ego repugno, sed inter sese ipsa pugnant. Deinde disputat, quod cuiusque generis animantium statui deceat extremum.

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Actionable Takeaways
  • Research your competition

You cannot become better than your competitor if you are not aware of their st ...

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Rapior illuc, revocat autem Antiochus, nec est praeterea, quem audiamus. Sed tamen intellego quid velit. Ait enim se, si uratur, Quam hoc suave! dicturum. Quis Pullum Numitorium Fregellanum, proditorem, quamquam rei publicae nostrae profuit, non odit? Age nunc isti doceant, vel tu potius quis enim ista melius? Tuo vero id quidem, inquam, arbitratu. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. An dolor longissimus quisque miserrimus, voluptatem non optabiliorem diuturnitas facit? Rationis enim perfectio est virtus;

Quis animo aequo videt eum, quem inpure ac flagitiose putet vivere? At cum de plurimis eadem dicit, tum certe de maximis. Ita ne hoc quidem modo paria peccata sunt. Haec igitur Epicuri non probo, inquam. Neque enim disputari sine reprehensione nec cum iracundia aut pertinacia recte disputari potest. Huius ego nunc auctoritatem sequens idem faciam. An me, inquam, nisi te audire vellem, censes haec dicturum fuisse? Sic, et quidem diligentius saepiusque ista loquemur inter nos agemusque communiter. Quae sunt igitur communia vobis cum antiquis, iis sic utamur quasi concessis; Non est enim vitium in oratione solum, sed etiam in moribus.

Verum hoc loco sumo verbis his eandem certe vim voluptatis Epicurum nosse quam ceteros. Isto modo ne improbos quidem, si essent boni viri. Ut aliquid scire se gaudeant? Hoc etsi multimodis reprehendi potest, tamen accipio, quod dant. Ego vero isti, inquam, permitto. Quae qui non vident, nihil umquam magnum ac cognitione dignum amaverunt. Cum praesertim illa perdiscere ludus esset. Ne in odium veniam, si amicum destitero tueri.

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Limitations

Being aware of the Red Queen Effect is not enough to guarantee success. Once you have come up with a concept that is foreign to your competition, you need to make sure you can move the new product or service past the idea phase, which usually requires capital, know-how, and the willingness to take risks. 

In Practice

The evolutionary ‘arms race’. 

In the Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins describes the “unequal cost of failure” in the evolutionary ‘arms race’. He describes the life/dinner principle captured in Aesop’s fables: “The rabbit runs faster than the fox, because the rabbit is running for his life while the fox is only running for his dinner.” There is a linked push to evolve and improve, with better adaptation in one species driving the other to make its own ‘leap forward’ to survive. 

Buffet and developments in the textile industry. 

The Farnam St Blog outlines the Red Queen Effect in some detail and includes the story of Buffett's approach to investing in the textile industry. Buffet wrote: 

“Over the years, we had the option of making large capital expenditures in the textile operation that would have allowed us to somewhat reduce variable costs. But the promised benefits from these textile investments were illusory. Many of our competitors, both domestic and foreign, were stepping up to the same kind of expenditures and, once enough companies did so, their reduced costs became the baseline for reduced prices industrywide. 

“Viewed individually, each company’s capital investment decision appeared cost-effective and rational; viewed collectively, the decisions neutralized each other and were irrational (just as happens when each person watching a parade decides he can see a little better if he stands on tiptoes). After each round of investment, all the players had more money in the game and returns remained anemic.”

Build your latticework
This model will help you to:

While the Red Queen effect arose from biology, it can be applied to competition and innovation in other domains. 

Use the following examples of connected and complementary models to weave the Red Queen effect into your broader latticework of mental models. Alternatively, discover your own connections by exploring the category list above. 

Connected models: 

  • Mutually assured destruction: the Red Queen effect can be seen as a lens to understand the cold war. 
  • Blue ocean strategy: to consider changing the game rather than running faster. 

Complementary models: 

  • Catalyst: in identifying rapid change opportunities over progressive development.
Origins & Resources

The name of this concept originated from Lewis Carroll’s famous sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, where Alice observes that she needs to run faster and faster just to stay in the same place; the Red Queen’s reply to Alice’s perplexity is ‘Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!’

Evolutionary biologist Leigh Van Halen proposed the Red Queen hypothesis in 1973 to describe the constant race that co-evolving species engage in order to survive in a constantly changing environment populated with opposing organisms.

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