And for good reason. The relatively short span of time in which we've seen some of the titans of industry displaced by “innovative” start-ups put the entire business world on notice. And the message is clear: merely maintaining your position is no longer sufficient. New growth, the kind associated with genuine innovation, that will bring value to your customers, your business, and even the world around you is the only way to ensure survival.
This urgency is not only felt by those with the word “innovation” etched into their job titles, but from the top of the company to the bottom, we are now all corporate innovators. With all these people focused on the problem, we should have it solved, right? Well.. , no.
The problem is, finding and capitalizing on new growth opportunities is hard – especially for established organizations that are often hampered by outdated mindsets, legacy business models, or large-scale bureaucracies. Core competencies can morph into corporate rigidities if we're not strategically alert and careful. Under these types of circumstances, the ability to “think outside the box” and create new growth initiatives is difficult. But with increased urgency comes the need to find a new path to growth – one that isn't rocket science. What we need is a road map to help discover, catalyze, and curate opportunities to deliver real growth. That's what this book helps us do.
Marc, Parker, and Matt have authored a rich, compelling journey for anyone pursuing new growth. In the process of introducing new ways of thinking about growth strategy and strategic innovation such as noncustomers, essential customer needs, and the building blocks of business and revenue models, they also introduce us to new ways of working. Throughout the book visual thinking methodologies and other business design thinking principles improve how you approach crafting and executing the strategy to build your new growth business. And these are supported by visualizations, tools, and templates that help you apply the approach to your own needs.
Additionally, they comfortably switch from well-known examples that illustrate concepts to fresh, unpublished case studies that serve to inspire the reader. In the end, they have created a provocative playbook grounded in rigorous academic research combined with practical, immersive experience.
While “innovation” isn't new, The Art of Opportunity makes it much more accessible to everyone. And that's something every corporate entrepreneur searching for new growth urgently needs.
Acknowledgments
We offer our sincere thanks to our colleagues from who provided insight and expertise that was instrumental in researching, designing, and writing The Art of Opportunity.
We are deeply grateful to the brilliant design and production work of Bryan Zentz, who went over and above the call of duty to create a book that is an enticing work of art.
Kudos to our stalwart marketing team:
Tori Dunlap, Lucy Kelly, Hannah Vogel, and Heidi Hinshaw for assistance with marketing.
For providing design, illustration, and production talent, we applaud:
Graham Barey, Hermen Lutje Berenbroek, Elisa Gipson, Guonan, Susanne LeBlanc, and Nathan Stang.
A special thanks to our XPLANE colleagues, both past and present:
As a source of inspiration, support, encouragement, and professional camaraderie.
For generous use of office space: Jon McDonald at The Good and David Howitt of The Meriwether Group.
We are also thankful for the encouragement, support, and talent of:
John Willig of Literary Services, Inc.; Lia Ottaviano, Peter Knox, Lauren Freestone, and Matt Holt of John Wiley & Sons; Joan Bosisio, Jen Heady, and Jacqueline Bole of Stern Strategy Group for strategy and public relations support; Max Thelen for legal counsel, advice, and general wisdom; Guanon for website design; Ann Smith, Lisa Lavora-De Beule, and Natalie Hanson of A.wordsmith.
For sharing their pearls of wisdom with us, we are immensely grateful to:
Bob Kelly, Microsoft; Anne Bartlett-Bragg, Ripple Effect Group; Mark Baker, Oracle; Sunni Brown, SB Inc; Tom Williams, Salesforce; Jim Kreller, Vanco Payment Solutions; Geoffrey Moore, Chasm Institute; Loius Patler, The B.I.T. Group; Nancy Duarte, Duarte Design; Dave Gray, XPLANE; Robert L. Lorber, PhD, Lorber Kamai Consulting Group; David Allen, David Allen Company; Jay Samit, Robert I. Sutton, and Mark Polson, Estée Lauder Companies; Paul Snyder, IHG; Robert McKinnon; Michael Graham; James Macanufo; Chip Joyce, Allied Talent; Jim Wallace, HP; Jeff Wright, Autodesk; Ron Diorio, The Economist; Soon Yu, VF Corporation; Omar Baig, OECD; Richard Black, Deutsche Bank; Bryson Koehler, Weather.com; Stuart Curley, Arriva; Gary Fisher, UC Davis; Patrick van der Pijl, Busines Models Inc.; Mark Barden, eatbigfish; Glenn A. Oclassen, Jr., Replicon; Penny Fondy, Wits' End Productions; Michael Graber, Southern Growth Studio; Dion Hinchcliffe, 7Summits; Jonas Koffler and David Roberts, The Difference; and our research participants, especially Dr. Daniel Liedtke and Klinik Hirslanden.
And, finally, many thanks to our community of Art of Opportunists for volunteering to review early content and provide their wisdom, advice, and support:
Apostolos Apostolides, Patrick Attallah, Omar Baig, Anne Bartlett-Bragg, Tanner Bechtel, Richard Black, Jacqueline Bole, Sunni Brown, Gary Burt, Mike Colarossi, Mercedes Concepcion-Gray, Mark Copsey, John Cousineau, Lars Crama, Stuart Curley, Hilary Curry, Kord Davis, Silvester de Keijzer, Peter de Wit, Matthew Dennison, Alexander Doujak, Crystal Fernando, Claire Francois Michael Graber, Dave Gray, Alan Greenberg, Kamal Hassan, Jen Heady, Kira Higgs, Heidi Hinshaw, Bob Kelly, Lori Kenney, Timur Khojayev, George Kurtyka, David Lary, C Todd Lombardo, Liz Lufkin, Smita Master, Rob McKinnon, Horacio Miranda, Karl Mundorff, Martina Naerr-Fuchs, Eva Nell, Kate Niederhoffer, Niall O'Doherty, Andres Pacheco, Vincenzo Pallotta, Catherine Palmer, Louis Patler, Gunter Pfau, Max Rehkopf, Stuart Rolinson, Fernando Saenz-Marrero, Brendan Sherry, Paul Snyder, Jodi Sweetman, Kevin Tate, The Doujak Team, K. C. Teis, Max Thelen, Rafal Tomczyk, Mike Turner, Heinz Waelchli, Jim Wallace, Margaret Ward, Terry Ward, Scott Wilkinson, and Thomas Williams.
Do. Or do not. There is no try.
We wrote this book to answer the question: How can established companies create new growth strategies and businesses from within their organizations?
By looking at how successful companies addressed this question and overcame their growth challenges, we envisioned and framed an approach that reduces risk, delivers results faster, and has a higher likelihood of success. But our approach should not be misconstrued as a guaranteed method. Finding and seizing new growth opportunities is an art. And like any art, it requires personal dedication, professional rigor, and a passionate drive to succeed. Our experience has shown us that those who apply the strategic and visual thinking methods described in this book not only improve their chances of discovering growth opportunities, but also are in a better position to realize the kind of success experienced by today's most innovative companies.
In writing and designing The Art of Opportunity, we have applied many of the same processes and principles presented in the book to our own work. Our collaborative process was greatly accelerated by the same type of visual thinking activities and methods for identifying, designing, and launching opportunities. We have also applied a diverse team-based approach, with each author bringing a unique set of professional and cultural experiences to broaden our perspective not only on the subject matter, but also
