LF11 - Cohort Futures

A dazzle of Slack bases, Discords, Telegrams, and Circles later, and it feels like we’ve arrived somewhere. Maybe it’s the post-social media era, where people move off the open platforms and into a curated mosaic of niche, private, and cooperative spaces. Or, maybe it’s just that the web we needed was here when we needed it.

Cohorts - inside the organization, outside the organization - are the operating logic of new things. Cohorts bring more futures within arm’s reach.

If we move up Maslow’s hierarchy, the answer might be becoming.

But what comes after belonging?

If the web’s first promise was low cost, real-time connection, its second was community - anyone, anywhere, could find a place where they belong.

And if communities are spaces for belonging, cohorts are spaces for becoming.

The primary difference between a community and a cohort is that the first is oriented around the relationships between the collective members, and the second is oriented around the progress of each individual. In short, communities are built to connect, cohorts are built to progress.

Businesses and individuals operating in uncertain environments and looking to do new things (“innovation”) need operating principles that enable and empower new outcomes.

cohorts deliver unexpected outcomes. And here’s why you should really care about cohorts - businesses and individuals operating in uncertain environments and looking to do new things (“innovation”) need operating principles that enable and empower new outcomes.

Cohorts - inside the organization, outside the organization - are the operating logic of... See more