Vision Pro, HoloTile, and why leaders should always speak last

In this article, I talk about Apple's Vision Pro launch, Disney's innovative HoloTile approach for VR and I explain in Jeff Bezos' words why leaders should always speak last.

This is MadeMeThink.xyz – A Weekly Publication with Curated Content for Visionaries, Innovators & Critical Thinkers Exploring the World of Tomorrow. Written by Prof. Thomas Metzler, Ph.D.

This MadeMeThink last week…

This week's post is a little shorter, as I'm busy with all sorts of activities at the end of the university semester, from course graduation to bachelor exams. But I didn't want to break with my New Year's resolution of writing a post every week as early as the fourth calendar week.

Apple Vision Pro Sold Out

Last week I wrote about Remote Work and the Apple Vision Pro (see below).

I had a few discussions on these topics afterwards, but as no one in my environment here in Europe had (yet) tested the Vision Pro themselves, the discussions were relatively hypothetical. Therefore, this video from Apple came in handy to give me at least a slightly better insight into the possibilities of the Vision Pro.

The question that has sparked the debate, however, is to what extent Apple's price premium over the Quest 3 can be justified ($3500 vs. $500). I have my question marks, but the discussions have always ended with the fact that we'll have to wait and see how good the quality of the headset is in comparison.

However, I wasn't surprised that the Apple Vision Pro was sold out right at launch. After all, according to analysts, there were only 80,000 to 160,000 headsets available, which is quite a manageable number considering the amount of Apple fans. And Apple won't be making large numbers with the Vision Pro in 2024.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley predicted on Wednesday that Apple will likely ship 300,000 to 400,000 units of its virtual reality headset this year, “with further upside depending on initial sell-through feedback.” - CNBC

So far, the Vision Pro has only been launched in the US. The global launch could be at the Apple World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June. In order for the Vision Pro to become attractive for developers and for the big players to build their own apps for it, Apple still has to sell a few of them. At least major players such as Netflix, YouTube or Spotify have not (yet) built their own application for the Vision Pro.

Disney HoloTile

At least Disney is on board with the Apple Vision Pro. And the company also has other interesting developments in the pipeline. Disney has just unveiled HoloTile, an interesting solution to the VR movement problem (see video below). It reminded me a lot of Ready Player One, a visionary virtual reality movie (watch it if you haven't seen it yet).

One thing you can say about VR is that it’s inspiring a lot of creative solutions to different issues around the tech. Movement is a major one, of course.” - Techcrunch

Always Speak Last

Another topic that got me thinking this week. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos conducted an interesting interview with Lex Fridman. One passage contains highly relevant recommendations for leaders on how they can promote an innovation culture within the company:

“… you want to set up your culture so that the most junior person can overrule the most senior person if they have data (…) There are little things you can do. So for example, in every meeting that I attend, I always speak last. And I know from experience that if I speak first, even very strong-willed, highly intelligent, high judgment participants in that meeting will wonder, “Well, if Jeff thinks that, I came in this meeting thinking one thing, but maybe I’m not right.” And so you can do little things like if you’re the most senior person in the room, go last, let everybody else go first. In fact, ideally, let’s try to have the most junior person go first and the second and try to go in order of seniority so that you can hear everyone’s opinion in an unfiltered way. Because we really do, we actually literally change our opinions. If somebody who you really respect says something, it makes you change your mind a little.” - Jeff Bezos (01:30:49)

So instead of showing how competent we are in meetings, we should be more quiet and let others shine - for the benefit of us all.

Entrepreneurial Competences

Being more quiet and listening should actually also be a competence that founders need to have. Other competences I have taught in an introductory course in our business administration bachelor's programme on entrepreneurial mindset (see below). In your opinion, what are the most important competences that entrepreneurs should have? I am interested in your opinion. Write me your thoughts in a comment in this Linkedin post.

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Disclaimer: The thoughts published in this publication are my personal opinion and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation for any type of action. I am not a financial expert. The startups or corporates highlighted in this publication have caught my interest. This mention is not an endorsement or recommendation to engage with them. Readers should always do their own research.