The probability of failure in corporate innovation outside of a firm’s core business is staggeringly high. Yet, the vast majority of existing books about innovation focus on startups and their entrepreneurs, methodologies, and ecosystems. Few, if any, focus on corporate innovation, those leaders who champion it, and how to maximize their chances of success. Corporate Explorer fills this gap.
In January 2021 alone, there were over 10,000 Google searches for business innovation. Innovation is as much about method, strategy, organization, and culture, as it is about leadership and individual leaders. At the center of every story of corporate innovation is a ‘Corporate Explorer’ who dares to go where others do not, a leader capable of closing the gap between knowing what needs to be done to grow new businesses and actually doing so. We are living in a time of unparalleled disruption that has been heightened by Covid-19 and the digital revolution that is taking place across industries. Managers see these opportunities and know that firms that innovate during times of crisis are more successful in the long term than those that do not. This book gives them practical guidance for how they can act on these instincts, help their firms succeed, and grow their own careers.
ANDREW BINNS is Co-Founder of Change Logic, a Boston-based strategic advisory firm. He works with CEOs, boards, and senior teams leading transformational business changes. He is a sought-after speaker and lecturer at companies and business schools.
CHARLES O’REILLY is the Frank E. Buck Professor of Management at Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Co-Founder of Change Logic. He is Co-Director of Leading Change and Organizational Renewal.
MICHAEL TUSHMAN is a Baker Foundation Professor; Paul R Lawrence, MBA Class of 1942 Professor Emeritus; and Charles (Tex) Thornton Chair of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at the Harvard Business School. He is also Co-Founder of Change Logic.
Preface and Acknowledgements
Section 1 – Strategic Ambition
Chapter 1: Innovation Advantage
Beating the Odds
Strategic Ambition
Innovation Disciplines
Ambidextrous Organization
Explore Leadership
Explorer not Entrepreneur
Chapter Summary
Chapter 2: Corporate Explorers in Action
Explorer’s insight
Purpose Driven
Investor Support
Manage Uncertainty
Chapter Summary
Chapter 3: Strategic Ambition
Emotion, Logic, Aspiration
License to Explore
Social Movement
Hunting Zones
Manifesto
Chapter Summary
Section 2 – Innovation Disciplines
Chapter 4: Ideation: generating ideas for new ventures
Idea Addiction
Solution Trap
Customer Discovery
High-value Customer Problems
Idea Generation
Chapter Summary
Chapter 5: Incubate – how Corporate Explorers learn through experimentation
Business Experiments
What needs to be true? (Hypothesis)
Run Experiments (Test)
Make sense of your results (Learn)
Run a new experiment (Iterate)
Follow the evidence (Decide)
Chapter Summary
Chapter 6: Scale – assembling the assets to build a new venture
Combining Assets
Customers, Capabilities, Capacity
Scaling Paths
Trigger Points
Chapter Summary
Section 3 – Ambidextrous Organization
Chapter 7: Explore Organization
Structure Options
Focused
Bottom Up
Top Down
Structure Decision
Chapter Summary
Chapter 8: Explore Business System
Integration Teams
Sales Team Integration
Corporate Functions
Resource Allocation
Feedforward Management System
Executive Attention
Chapter Summary
Chapter 9: Risk and Reward for the Corporate Explorer
Motivation puzzle
Venture Model
Shadow Stock
Long Term Incentives
Personal Risk
Corporate Explorers motivation
Chapter Summary
Section 4 – Explore Leadership
Chapter 10: Silent Killers of Exploration
Core Business System
Preserve Professional Identity
Avoid Risk
Optimize for short-term
Maximize Comfort
Hope?
Chapter Summary
Chapter 11: The Double Helix: How Corporate Explorers lead Innovation and Change
Future Organization
Storytellers
Social Network Leader
Insider or Outsider
Reputation manager
Chapter Summary
Chapter 12: Readiness to Act: leadership and scaling a new venture
Competing Commitments
Both/And Leadership
Productive tension
The Mirror
Courage
Passion
Chapter Summary
Appendix: Corporate Explorer Framework
Figures and Tables
Notes
About the Authors
Index
Other versions by this Author