Corporate Explorer Fieldbook

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THE REAL WORK for an author starts after the book is published. Since Corporate Explorer: How Corporations Beat Startups at the Innovation Game (co‐authored with Professors Charles O'Reilly and Michael Tushman)¹ was published in spring of 2021, Andy Binns has been on the road. He has spoken with hundreds, if not thousands, of innovation practitioners who run innovation programs within large corporations in different industries all around the world.

They were inspired by the real‐life stories of leaders who built new businesses inside large corporates, such as IBM, RELX, UNIQA, and Analog Devices. They recognized themselves not as entrepreneurs, but as Corporate Explorers, a distinct role inside corporations that may not attract the same attention as their startup brethren, but still generate extraordinary results.

In May 2022, our friends at Robert Bosch GmbH convened a conference, Corporate Startup Fusion, bringing together a wide range of innovation practitioners from across Europe. What was clear from presentations, discussions, and conversations was how much insight and experience about corporate exploration existed inside corporations. There is no question that management gurus and academics make an important contribution — through concepts, methodologies, and canvases – but in many ways practitioners are far ahead of them. Business school professors talk; these people do.

This realization was the seed for this book. A kitbag full of practical, ...