Corporate Explorer

Corporate Explorer

by Andrew Binns, Charles A. O'Reilly, Michael Tushman
Released February 2022
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119838326

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

Corporate Explorers Transform Disruption Into Opportunity With This Proven Framework

Innovation used to be seen as a game best left to entrepreneurs, but now a new breed of corporate managers is flipping this logic on its head. These Corporate Explorers have the insight, resilience, and discipline to overcome the obstacles and build new ventures from inside even the largest organizations.

Corporate Explorers are part entrepreneurs, using innovation disciplines to jump start cutting-edge ideas, and part change leaders, capable of creating support for investment. They see that corporations already own the ideas, resources, and—critically—the talent to build new ventures. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Bosch, LexisNexis, and Analog Devices enable managers to put these assets to use and gain an upper hand over startups that threaten to disrupt them.

Corporate Explorer is a guidebook to the practices that enable these managers to go from idea into action. It demonstrates how success is not only possible but may offer entrenched companies better odds than venture-capital backed startups.

This actionable and proven framework explains how managers can become successful corporate innovators; it includes tools to:

  • Learn how to apply innovation practices with greater discipline
  • Turn great ideas into a full-time job as an innovation leader
  • Experiment with and scale original business models
  • Transform innovation programs into a thriving source of new business
  • Attract, retain, and motivate entrepreneurial talent
  • Energize employees by creating a realistic way to innovate

These lessons come from the trailblazers of corporate innovation—Andrew Binns (Change Logic), Charles O'Reilly (Stanford Graduate School of Business), and Michael Tushman (Harvard Business School)—who have decades of experience helping entrepreneurial-minded executives activate employees to become Corporate Explorers.

Entrepreneurs take notice—it's time for Corporate Explorers to set the pace and chart the course for disruption.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Preface and Acknowledgments
  6. SECTION I: Explore Aspiration
    1. 1 Innovation Advantage
      1. Beating the Odds
      2. Strategic Ambition
      3. Innovation Disciplines
      4. Ambidextrous Organization
      5. Explore Leadership
      6. Explorer, Not Entrepreneur
      7. Chapter Summary
      8. Notes
    2. 2 Corporate Explorers in Action
      1. Explorer's Insight
      2. Purpose Driven
      3. Investor Support
      4. Manage Uncertainty
      5. Chapter Summary
      6. Notes
    3. 3 Strategic Ambition
      1. Emotion, Logic, Aspiration
      2. License to Explore
      3. Social Movement
      4. Hunting Zones
      5. Manifesto
      6. Chapter Summary
      7. Notes
  7. SECTION II: Innovation Disciplines
    1. 4 Ideation: Generating Ideas for New Ventures
      1. Idea Addiction
      2. Solution Trap
      3. Customer Discovery
      4. High-Value Customer Problems
      5. Idea Generation
      6. Chapter Summary
      7. Notes
    2. 5 Incubate: How Corporate Explorers Learn Through Experimentation
      1. Business Experiments
      2. What Needs to Be True? (Hypothesis)
      3. Run Experiments (Test)
      4. Make Sense of Your Results (Learn)
      5. Run a New Experiment (Iterate)
      6. Follow the Evidence (Decide)
      7. Chapter Summary
      8. Notes
    3. 6 Scale: Assembling the Assets to Build a New Venture
      1. Combining Assets
      2. Customers, Capabilities, Capacity
      3. Scaling Paths
      4. Trigger Points
      5. Chapter Summary
      6. Notes
  8. SECTION III: Ambidextrous Organization
    1. 7 Explore Organization
      1. Structure Options
      2. Focused
      3. Bottom Up
      4. Top Down
      5. Structure Decision
      6. Chapter Summary
      7. Notes
    2. 8 Explore Business System
      1. Team Design
      2. Sales Team Integration
      3. Corporate Functions
      4. Resource Allocation
      5. Feedforward Management System
      6. Executive Attention
      7. Chapter Summary
      8. Notes
    3. 9 Risk and Reward for the Corporate Explorer
      1. Motivation Puzzle
      2. Venture Model
      3. Shadow Stock
      4. Long-Term Incentives
      5. Personal Risk
      6. Corporate Explorers Motivation
      7. Chapter Summary
      8. Notes
  9. SECTION IV: Explore Leadership
    1. 10 Silent Killers of Exploration
      1. Core Business System
      2. Preserve Professional Identity
      3. Avoid Risk
      4. Optimize for Short Term
      5. Maximize Comfort
      6. Change Leader
      7. Chapter Summary
      8. Notes
    2. 11 The Double Helix: How Corporate Explorers Lead Innovation and Change
      1. Future Organization
      2. Storytellers
      3. Social Network Leader
      4. Insider or Outsider
      5. Reputation Manager
      6. Chapter Summary
      7. Notes
    3. 12 Readiness to Act: Leadership and Scaling a New Venture
      1. Competing Commitments
      2. Both/And Leadership
      3. Productive Tension
      4. The Mirror
      5. Courage
      6. Passion
      7. Chapter Summary
      8. Notes
  10. Appendix: Corporate Explorer Framework
  11. List of Figures and Tables
  12. About the Authors
    1. Andrew J. M. Binns
    2. Professor Charles A. O'Reilly, III
    3. Professor Michael L. Tushman
  13. Index
  14. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Corporate Explorer
  • Author(s): Andrew Binns, Charles A. O'Reilly, Michael Tushman
  • Release date: February 2022
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119838326