The Art of Opportunity

Foreword

When many of today's leaders joined the workforce, “innovation” was synonymous with research and development or process efficiencies—the hallmarks of traditional competitive advantage. Little did any of us know then, that in our lifetimes an entire occupational discipline would emerge to keep companies “innovative” or continuously inventive. Or that titles like “director of innovation” and “chief innovation officer” or even “chief imagination officer” would decorate corporate organization charts.

But it did. 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capitalizing on new growth opportunities is hard—especially for established organizations that are often hampered by outdated mindsets, legacy business models, or large-scale bureaucracies.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 ...