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

by Salim Ismail

The methodology behind Scaling Edges is built on the following basic guidelines: Find an edge in the form of an emerging business opportunity that has the potential to scale quickly and become a new core for the business. Line up a changemaker (or team of changemakers) who understands and embraces that edge opportunity. Place the changemaker/team of changemakers outside the core organization. Use the Lean approach and experiment with new initiatives to accelerate learning. Starve the team by providing little in the way of help, money or other resources. Encourage the team to seek leverage by connecting with other companies and participating in an ecosystem that can help accelerate growth. Point the ExO outward. The fledgling enterprise should create a new market or product area, NOT cannibalize the core product suite—at least in its early stages.