< PreviousHowever, as we continue to accelerate into the future today organisations are already using Creative Machines, Artificial Intelligences (AI) that themselves are able to design, innovate, and produce new products, from clothing to computer chips, cars to drugs and beyond, at exponential - digital - speed. Consequently, we can already see a time when both human entrepreneurs and these “Robo-Entrepreneurs” will be able to disrupt the status quo of a global industry in just days and hours - all of which then begs the question: Are you prepared? WHO’S AFRAID OF FATBAG? The world doesn’t stand still for anyone, no matter how much they desire it or try to hold it back, hence the term: Change is the only constant. As has always been the case organisations are disrupted for one of two reasons - on the one hand because they didn’t see disruption coming, or, on the other, because they saw it coming and didn’t take the necessary actions to mitigate it or lead it. And while the markets and stakeholders will sometimes forgive executives for the former, they rarely forgive them for the latter - especially in a world where disruption is an ever present stalking horse, where not takings risks is the new risk, and where being able to recognise the signs and anticipate them are, arguably, easier than ever before. As a consequence one of the most common failings I see within organisations is the absence of what I call an “Explorer’s Mindset.” A clear example of this type of behaviour, as I discuss in more depth in my Future of Disruption Codex , is that in spite of the fact that digitisation erodes then eliminates the boundaries between previously distinct industries, which then further accelerates the rate of disruption, why is it so many executives still only look for signs of disruption within their own industry, and not from adjacent or external industries? And this is just one example of how they miss many of the signs of what’s next. T HE RULES that governed yesterday’s world can only rarely be applied to today’s world. Disruption is faster paced, and accelerating, and it’s impact is more profound and more wide spread than ever before, and no corner of our global business, culture, or society is immune from its effects. Additionally, the innovation methods and tools we have relied upon until this point are now also showing their age and are being re-invented. Based on decades worth of linear and local thinking many of these innovation methods simply aren’t appropriate for a time when now a single individual has the potential to change the world at a speed that was unfathomable just a decade ago. Today visionary organisations and entrepreneurs have access to increasingly powerful connected ecosystems, networks, and tools, that allow them to create and launch disruptive products that drive change at a global scale within just months and weeks, not the years or decades that it would have taken in the past. WHY THE ExPLORER PROGRAM EXISTS . 50311institute.comMATTHEW GRIFFIN 311INSTITUTE.com “ DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION HURTS - IF YOU’RE NOT THE ONE DOING THE DISRUPTING . ” - Clay Christensen, Harvard Universityon many executives lips is then often “What would they [Big Tech] do?” The result of all this change, of course, is that it’s no longer just enough for you to focus on the goings on within your own industry, you have to change your culture, your mind set, your operating model, and your vision. And most of all you have to explore far and wide, and experiment. A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND STEPS As you journey through this program take note of how you process and react to the things you discover and remember that that’s a function of your organisations culture - after all, an opportunity is often just that, an opportunity, but a threat to you is also a threat to your competitors which, again, means it’s an opportunity, and I’ve never come across an organisation that doesn’t love an opportunity. Or several. Whether you progress the opportunities you discover during this program is obviously down to you and your evaluation of them, but you are only going to be able to uncover these opportunities and prosper from them if you explore, and that’s the starting point of our journey together. So let’s start exploring ...Furthermore, and here’s additional evidence that your world and your competitive environment has permanently shifted when I ask a bank, energy, or retail customer, for example, what industry they’re in they always, even now, respond as you’d expect, answering: “We’re in the financial services, energy, and retail industries.” However, when I ask the exact same question to clients in the technology sector - a sector that is digital and connected by default and by design - the answer is: “All of them.” At the very least this answer alone should act as a stark enough warning to executives in all organisations, irrespective of the sector they operate in. Similarly the evidence that these technology organisations follow through on this mantra is all around you. After all, many of them have already established significant presences in all manner of different sectors including communications, financial services, healthcare, retail, space, and transportation, as well as consumer technology, and entertainment? And they’re still only just getting started. This is also a trend that noone can deny is accelerating, which is why the question 52311institute.comMATTHEW GRIFFIN 311INSTITUTE.com “ GOOD IDEAS ARE COMMON . WHAT’S UNCOMMON ARE PEOPLE WHO’LL WORK HARD TO BRING THEM ABOUT . ”seven year plan, and your five year plan is more like a three year plan, which ultimately means that rather than leading markets in the future you’re actually at greater risk of falling behind and loosing relevance. During this program not only will you and your teams go on a journey of discovery and explore all three horizons, the short, medium, and long term horizons, and the opportunities and threats that lie therein, but you’ll also be given the critical thinking and the tools that prepare you and help you lead them all. A T THE 311 Institute we have a proud heritage of helping companies of all sizes across all sectors see and envision the future and deep future which ranges from a couple of years out to more than fifty years out making us your ideal guide to help you see beyond not just the current horizon but the next one as well, and then invent it. And why does any of this matter? Well, as the rate of disruption accelerates your time to see, qualify, and react to those new disruptive events diminishes dramatically which, in turn, makes it much more likely that you’ll be disrupted in the first place. Consequently, the further into the future you can see then the more time you give yourself to adapt to them and lead them. Furthermore, to give this idea even more credence consider this unspoken truth - the majority of companies have a ten or a five year strategy. However, if the rate of change and disruption is accelerating, with emphasis on the word accelerating, then surely your company’s ten year plan, in reality, is more like a five or GIVING YOU TIME BACK AND TIME TO ADAPT . 54311institute.comTHE THREE HORIZONS Most companies live the majority of their lives in the first horizon space - the now. But as the rate of change and disruption accelerates you will quickly find that your company’s ten year plan quickly becomes your five year plan, and that your five year plan becomes your three year plan, so it’s increasingly important to look beyond today’s horizon and prepare for a future which will arrive sooner than you anticipate. HORIZON 1 Maintain and strengthen your core business HORIZON 2 Explore and discover new possibilities and capabilities HORIZON 3 Create entirely new possibilities and competenciesagain, staggeringly, in the vast majority of companies less that 30 percent of their workforce are actively engaged in moving their companies forwards - now imagine if that figure wasn’t 30 percent but was 100 percent... As you journey through this program, as you will see, we are going to address each and every one of these layers and unleash your all of your company’s full exponential potential, not just a tiny portion of it. A S WE you journey through this program together it’s imperative you remember that transforming just one part of your company or your company’s culture isn’t enough to get the results you crave, or enough to protect your company from future disruptions - every business function and every business unit has to be aligned and on board otherwise you risk failure. Over the years research has shown that when it comes to transformational change most companies start and stop at the top three layers of the organisational model, and that the failure to address the other layers are often the reasons why the majority of these transformation efforts fail. This fact was bought harshly into the spotlight recently in the worldwide State of the Global Workplace report that was compiled by Gallup which concluded 85 percent of employees are not engaged or are actively disengaged at work. Not only did the report conclude that this results in a staggering $7 Trillion of lost productivity, but they also concluded that this also translated into the fact that, UNLEASH YOUR EXPONENTIAL POTENTIAL . 56311institute.comBE EXPONENTIAL If you want to transform your company into an Exponential Enterprise it’s not enough to simply transform a few of your organisation’s core layers, you have to transform them all. 1. MARKET 2. BUSINESS MODEL 3. OPERATIONAL MODEL 4. INNOVATION MODEL 5. CULTURE 6. PURPOSE 7. PEOPLEThe LAUNCH phase is then all about discovering new disruptive ideas, technologies, and trends and building new products and services - concepts - that will ultimately help your organisation extend its leadership position in its existing markets and build next generation Exponential Enterprises that are equipped to lead new markets. The last four phases ORGANISE , REVIEW , EXECUTE , and REPEAT then give you the tools and skills you need to sell and promote your new concepts into the market and develop winning, future proof go to market strategies. And then, of course, starting all over again. D ISRUPTING THEstatus quo and “surviving” the increasingly complex, disruptive, and fast paced future isn’t easy. In fact it’s horrendously difficult requiring by my count some fifty or more factors to come together in almost perfect harmony in order for you to pull of the coup de grâce of becoming what’s known in global investment circles as a “Unicorn.” Or, from a more basic perspective, thriving and just staying afloat. As a result of this complexity I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible for you to discover, build, launch, and sell your own disruptive businesses and concepts into your chosen marketplaces. The result is the ExPLORER Framework which is has seven phases. The ExPLORE and PREPARE phases are all about establishing the right culture and mindset within your organisation, securing sponsorship and resources, recruiting the Core Team who will lead your program, and recruiting the PATHFINDER and PIONEER TEAMS who will assume the central role during the program’s LAUNCH phase. AN OVERVIEW OF THE ExPLORER FRAMEWORK . 58311institute.com311 INSTITUTE 311 INSTITUTE EXPLORER FRAMEWORK START . BUILD . AND LAUNCH DISRUPTIVE COMPANIES PURPOSE LOOKING FOR FUTURES INFORMATION FOR YOUR PROGRAM? WE’VE GOT YOU ... SIGNALS . TECH . TRENDS . JUST A CLICK AWAY EXPLORE EXPLORE EXPLORE HOW THE WORLD IS CHANGING. PREPARE ALIGN COMPANY CULTURE & SET OBJECTIVES. SECURE PROGRAM FUNDING, RESOURCES & SUPPORT. LAUNCH DISRUPTIVE & ITERATIVE INNOVATION TEAMS DISCOVER CUSTOMER FRICTIONS & PROBLEMS, DEVELOP NEW CONCEPTS. ORGANISE PREPARE TO LAUNCH NEW CONCEPTS INTO THE MARKET. ESTABLISH GOVERNANCE & SUPPORT. REVIEW REVIEW PROGRAM PROGRESS. ADJUST IF NEEDED. ENSURE TEAMS & PRODUCTS ARE SUPPORTED. EXECUTE DESIGN & EXECUTE YOUR GO TO MARKET. LAUNCH NEW PRODUCTS INTO THE MARKET. REPEAT NOW REPEAT THE PROGRAM. PREPARE LAUNCH ORGANISE REVIEW EXECUTE REPEATNext >