< Previouson the company’s front yard, before laughing at it, shrugging it off, and getting eaten by the aliens hoards inside... Noone ever claimed disruption was easy but throughout my travels and conversations with executives from all manner of industries all around the world it’s clear that almost everyone underestimates the complexity and size of the challenge. However, while disrupting any market is difficult it’s also clear that the size of the prize, which is often the opportunity to lead and own a market, is worth the effort. EXPONENTIAL TECHNOLOGIES Once a company has started its journey to become an Exponential Enterprise and found interesting and valuable problems worth solving next they turn to technology, explicitly combinations of technologies, to develop their products and help get them into the hands of consumers. And, as you can see from the Griffin Exponential Starburst in the earlier chapters and by reading the other codices in my Codex of the Future Series, there are hundreds of exponential technologies that enterprises can choose from to help them change the economics of their industries, and develop new disruptive products. And more are appearing all the time. One of the phrases you’ll hear me refer to many times throughout this codex is the word exponential, a term that I’m sure you’ve heard a million times that’s often used to refer to technologies that emerge, develop, and mature very quickly, and often at a rate that very few people anticipate or predict. The term is also a hangover from Moore’s Law where Gordon Moore, Intel’s co-founder, in 1965 predicted that the number of transistors on a computer chip would double every 18 months, leading to an exponential increase in computing Price-Performance, and today we’re seeing the same pattern emerge in many other technologies - from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Quantum Computing, to 3D Printing and Gene Editing, and many others. Although, when it comes to digital technologies, such as AI and Creative Machines, for example, their rates of development even make Moore’s Law look positively lethargic, and this is yet another trend that’s accelerating disruption. Notes: 350311institute.comAs the rate of technological development accelerates though there is also another trend you should familiarise yourselves with called “Jumping the S-Curve,” and it’s important because, in short, it refers to the way that different technologies supersede one another. Furthermore, as the number of exponential technologies that are emerging continues to accelerate and increase this is yet another accelerating trend that you have to take into account when deciding which technologies to use to build your new products and go to market strategies. The phrase S-Curve refers to the rate of development of a particular technology - like a squashed S first the rate of development starts slow, then it accelerates dramatically, and then it flattens off as researchers struggle to eke out further gains. Furthermore, today, and more so in the future, as the period of time it takes to reach higher levels of Price-Performance accelerates you’ll no doubt find that trying to keep pace with all these developments gets even harder. Jumping the S-Curve then refers to a company’s ability to move from one older technology to a newer one, for example, moving from the logic based x86 computers that we use today to tomorrow’s ultra-powerful Quantum Computers. Unlike the past though where there were only a few S-Curves to jump now there are potentially hundreds - all of which can be combined in new and interesting ways to further fuel the rate of disruption. EXPONENTIAL ADOPTION Of course though, while having an enterprise with the right culture that’s capable of identifying valuable problems and opportunities, and which is highly adept at leveraging talent and technology to build great products is a great start the fact remains that you have to get those products into consumers hands. So, as part of your Execution strategy, it should come as no surprise that there are plenty of areas left that, on the one hand could stop you dead in the water, or, on the other boost you into the hall of fame. And these areas are so important that I decided to give them their own axis. While I’ve already discussed how disruption is a process and not a single event this is the stage where, if you want to disrupt a market, you have to gain as much traction as possible in as short a time frame as possible in order to stymie your competitions ability to counteract you with their own messaging and Notes: 351311institute.comvariants. Getting your product into the hands, hearts, and minds of consumers though at enough scale to disrupt a market and permanently change the status quo though is obviously difficult. But that said while, yes, you still have to overcome many hurdles, and successfully pull all the right levers you should be able to take comfort from the fact that today, as I’ve highlighted in previous chapters, it’s easier to disrupt the status quo than it ever has been before. Navigating this part of the labyrinth though is complicated which is why the majority of enterprises struggle to realise their lofty ambitions, and sometimes all it takes is for one key piece to be out of alignment and everything falls down like a deck of cards. For example, build a great product that the regulators block and you’re going nowhere, or build a great product that the regulators approve that is unethical, and yep, again you’re going nowhere. And so it goes on - you get the picture. So, as you can see again gaining mass adoption of your product isn’t down to getting one thing right it’s down to getting many things right. These include, but are not limited to, your products accessibility, adoptability, and affordability, as well as other factors including cultural alignment and bias, ethics, the geo-political situation, the impact of insurance and liability, network effects, and, of course, standards and the regulatory environment. Get one of these wrong or get side slammed by one of them, as well as fail to adequately address or solve your company’s culture and resolve the vagaries of your company’s corporate immune system or shareholders, and it could be game over for you and your new products. SUMMARY Today we live in a world full of opportunity where the rate of change is accelerating every day, and where exponential technologies are force multipliers for multi-national companies, and levellers for startups - the result of which means that whereas yesterday you had tens of competitors in your rear-view mirror today you have hundreds - or more. It’s fun to be you. However, as amazing as all this is it will all soon be eclipsed by an even bigger, and even more disruptive revolution, because a new breed of entrepreneur, Notes: 352311institute.comone that can out think and out perform humans a million fold to one, and build fully autonomous multi-billion dollar empires within days and months is already emerging. I am, of course, talking about the rise of Creative Machines, synthetic entrepreneurs if you will, and for those of you who think that such talk of machines that can design and innovate products, and operate and scale companies is far fetched the first fully autonomous enterprises have already been built and they’re already operating on two continents. Today is the slowest rate we will ever move again, but you’ve seen nothing yet. So pause, take a deep breath, and prepare yourself for what’s coming. Notes: 353311institute.comPART VII.REPEAT REPEAT . REPEAT . REPEAT .A S YOU’LL no doubt be aware by now having worked through the program disrupting and re- inventing yourselves and your company isn’t a one time sprint, it’s a never ending marathon. And as you might have guessed it’s now time to repeat your journey all over again. Notes: 356311institute.comNotes: 357311institute.comCONCLUSIONP EOPLE SAY change is a constant, but in today’s technology fuelled world this simple phrase is a deceiving, and often comforting, misnomer because change isn’t constant, it’s exponential, and the only boundaries to what we can achieve as individuals and as a global society are the ones that we invent for ourselves. As researchers and scientists increasingly prove that nothing is impossible, that yesterdays science fiction is simply the future generations status quo, and as we all continue to bear witness to an increasingly rapid rate of change that’s affecting and transforming every corner of global culture, industry, and society the future belongs to all of us equally, and we should never loose sight of that. Explore More, Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute 359311institute.comNext >