Jimism #007: Category Blur

Here’s a question every leadership team should ask:

What if our next competitor isn’t in our industry?

That’s the idea behind Category Blur.

Technology has a habit of destroying the boundaries we use to organize markets.

Banks become software companies.

Automakers become mobility, energy and subscription businesses.

Retailers become media companies.

Healthcare moves into homes, phones and wearable devices.

Telecommunications companies move into entertainment.

Technology companies move into finance.

And AI is going to accelerate all of it.

The neat categories we used to define industries are becoming less useful because customers don’t care very much about industry boundaries.

They care about solving a problem.

That’s where disruption sneaks in.

Three implications:

• Watch adjacent markets. The company you should be studying might not be on your traditional competitor list.
• Follow the customer, not the category. Ask who else is trying to solve the same underlying problem.
• Expect capabilities to migrate. When technology becomes cheap and accessible, expertise once limited to one sector can suddenly appear somewhere else.

Companies often discover Category Blur too late because they’re benchmarking themselves against organizations that look like them.

Meanwhile, the real threat is building something completely different.

The next banking competitor might not look like a bank.

The next automotive competitor might not think of itself as a car company.

The next media competitor might not own a television network.

Industries don’t disappear.

Their boundaries do.

Watch the edges.

That’s usually where the future gets in.

jimisms.jimcarroll.com