Should I Share My Ice Cream?
A lesson on opportunity costs from Mo Willem’s children’s book
In Should I Share My Ice Cream by Mo Willem’s, Elephant Gerald is frozen with indecision: should he share his awesome, yummy, sweet, super, great, tasty, nice, cool ice cream with his best friend Piggie or keep it all to himself? As product professionals, we’re often faced with similar choices: should we prioritize Initiative A or Initiative B? Is Feature X the better solution or Feature Y? It is important to make these decisions quickly and effectively. If we fail to move forward, we risk the opportunity melting away entirely, just like Gerald’s ice cream.
What is Opportunity Cost?
Investopedia defines opportunity cost as the potential benefits an individual, investor, or business misses out on when choosing one alternative over another. To formally calculate opportunity cost, simply subtract the return on the chosen investment from the return on the best option you could have taken. Let’s look at a few examples:
For Gerald, the value of ice cream is the joy it brings to the consumer. If Gerald eats the ice cream by himself, his return will be one unit of his own joy. However, if he…
