Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)

by Salim Ismail

In time, humanity domesticated beasts of burden, including the horse and ox, and output increased further. But the equation was still linear. Double the beasts, double the output. As market capitalism came into existence and the industrial age dawned, output took a huge leap. Now a single individual could operate machinery that did the work of 10 horses or 100 laborers. The speed of transport, and thus distribution, doubled, and then, for the first time in human history, tripled. Increased output brought prosperity to many and, ultimately, a manifold jump in the standard of living. Starting at the end of the eighteenth century and continuing through the present—and largely the result of the intersection of the Industrial Revolution and the modern scientific research laboratory—mankind has witnessed a doubling