1. Becoming an
Exponential
Organization
How to thrive in an Age of Disruption
…
schoolofdisruption.com
Rob van Alphen

2. “Any company
designed for success
in the 20th century...
...is doomed to
failure in the 21st.”
—Investor David Rose

3. Mega trends impacting the #FutureofWork
Aging population
100-year life
Millennials / Gen Z
Power shifts
Developed vs Developing
Move to cities
Digital Nomads
Exponential growth of data
Smarter algorithms
Faster processing speeds
Demographic
shifts
Economics Urbanization
Technology
breakthroughs

4. DISRUPTIVE FORCES
Robotics
3D Printing
Autonomous Vehicles
Blockchain
Artificial Intelligence
Digital Biology
Internet of Things
Immersive Reality
Nanotechnology
Disruptive technologies have emerged…

5. … enabling disruption across industries
HOSPITALITY > AirBnB
HEALTHCARE > Digital biology
FINANCE > Blockchain
MANUFACTURING > 3D printing
EDUCATION > Coursera
RETAIL > Amazon 🔥

6. The forces driving this
1. DIGITIZATION

7. Early 90s office desk…

8. NASA Apollo vs. iPhone
https://www.zmescience.com/research/technology/smartphone-power-compared-to-apollo-432
YOUR IPHONE IS 120
MILLION TIMES FASTER
THAN ALL OF NASA’S
COMPUTERS USED FOR
THE MOON LANDING.
size cost
$3.5M

9. Digitizing humans

10. The forces driving this
2. DEMONETIZATION

11. Technology is becoming FASTER & CHEAPER
3D Printing
Industrial robots
Drones
2007: $100,000
2017: $100
1,000x price drop
2007: $500,000
2017: $20,000
25x price drop
2007: $100,000
2017: <$100
1,000x price drop
LIDAR Sensors
Solar
Biotech (1 DNA profile)
2007: $20,000
2017: $200
100x price drop
1987: $30 per KwH
2017: $0,015 per KwH
2,000x price drop
2007: $10,000,000
2017: <$100
100,000x price drop

12. Yesterday vs. Today
RECORD STORE
RESEARCH/LIBRARY
BOOK STORE
CLASSIFIEDS
LONG DISTANCE
LOCAL STORES

13. The forces driving this
3. DEMOCRATIZATION

14. 0.8
billion
Internet users in Asia
2010
1.3
billion
2013
?
billion
2022
2.1
billion
2018
Source: Statista.com

15. 8bn
Global
population
Global ubiquitous connectivity.
How will you engage the next +4 billion connected consumers?
7bn
Connected
minds
80bn
Connected
devices
3.9tn
Enterprise
AI market
0.5tn
IoT sensors
market

16. Impact comes from anyone, anywhere

17. Linear vs.
Exponential thinking

18. Chaos/
Amazement
You are here
Disappointment
Difficult to predict!
Deception of Linear vs. Exponential growth
TIME
RATEOFCHANGE
Linear
Exponential
What Execs/CFO
think is happening

19. Let’s imagine…
“Mom, can I get 1 cent
but you double it each day
for just 1 month?”
Emily (6 years old)
Allowance: $10/week

20. Emily – allowance $10/week
“Mom, I only want $0.01/day, but doubled for 1 month.”
Day 1 Day 2 Day 31
$0.01 $0.02 $0.04
Day 3
$10,737,418
Day 15
$164

21. 30 Meters
01
…
12
11
10
09
08
07
06
05
04
03
02
“Take 30 steps”

22. Deception of Linear vs. Exponential“Take 30 Exponential steps…”
26XAround the Earth!
…1,073,741,824 meters

23. Example: Threat of linear thinking
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040
Humans are poor at making predictions…
1,000,000
vehicles per year by 2020
Millionsofvehicles
In 2015, the Energy Information
Alliance predicted the annual
sales of EVs would be no more
than 1,000 in total.

24. 40% of the
S&P 500
won’t exist by 2025.
Your competition isn’t just the
company down the street any
longer; it’s companies from
anywhere in the world.
Source: Innosight.com

26. New Unicorns are born every day
Source: CB Insights, 2017

27. The organization’s immune system attacks innovation

28. 3%of companies have completed true
digital transformation programs2
93%of Chief Strategy Officers say new
technologies will rapidly change
their company’s industry1
54%of companies have no program in
place to build the skills of the future3
1 https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/chief-strategy-officers-say-digital-disruption-is-inevitable-but-few-are-prepared-finds-accenture-report.htm
2 https://www.sap.com/dmc/exp/4-ways-leaders-set-themselves-apart/index.html
3 https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/deloitte-study-report-c-suite-isnt-working-together.html
Companies are NOT prepared

29. Time to think 10X
An Exponential Organization (ExO) is one whose impact is at least 10X larger
compared to its competition because of the use of new organizational techniques
that leverage emerging technologies.

30. 2014 2018
ingredients recipe
Where it all started…

31. The ExO formula
MTP + SCALE + IDEAS

32. ExO Attributes
MTP
MASSIVE TRANSFORMATIVE PURPOSE
The higher, aspirational
purpose of the organization.
The MTP serves as a guiding
principle when key decisions
need to be made.

33. Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP)
"Ideas worth spreading""Organize the world's information" "Outsmarting traffic, together"

34. S
C
A
L
E
10 ExO Attributes
Staff on Demand
Algorithms
Leveraged Assets
Engagement
Community and Crowd
TAP INTO ABUNDANCE
External attributes which
allow organizations to
access global abundance.

35. Staff on Demand
The smartest people
don’t work for you
Tapping into a
global talent pool

36. Staff on Demand

37. Community & Crowd
Leverage the community
passionate about your
MTP to scale
Leverage the crowd
to ideate, validate and
support ideas

38. Community & Crowd

39. Algorithms
Make sense of the
abundance of information
Human + Machine

40. Algorithms

41. Leveraged Assets
Access, rent or share
assets to stay nimble

42. Linear Exponential
Leveraged Assets
Founded in 1957 Founded in 2008
$7.8B $53-65B

43. Engagement
Convert Crowd
into Community
Gamification

44. Engagement

45. I
D
E
A
S
Interfaces
Experimentation
Autonomy
Social Technologies
Dashboards
10 ExO Attributes
MANAGE ABUNDANCE
Internal attributes which
allow organizations to
manage global abundance.

46. Interfaces
Managing & filtering the
outputs of the external
SCALE attributes

47. Dashboards
Provide the real-time
information needed to
run your business

48. Experimentation

49. Autonomy
Self-organized,
multi-disciplinary teams
that operate with
decentralized authority
Agile – OKR - Holacracy

50. Social Technologies
Allow staff to
communicate and
collaborate in real-time
Reducing the gap
between data gathering
and decision making

51. S
C
A
L
E
I
D
E
A
S
Interfaces
Experimentation
Autonomy
Social Technologies
Dashboards
RECAP - 10 ExO Attributes (You need an MTP + at least 4)
Staff on Demand
Algorithms
Leveraged Assets
Engagement
Community and Crowd
MTP
MASSIVE TRANSFORMATIVE PURPOSE
TAP INTO ABUNDANCE MANAGE ABUNDANCE

52. Adapted
Organization
New
ExO
New
ExO
New
ExO
Original
Organization
Edge Initiatives
Core Initiatives
Balancing innovation & risk
Type of ExO initiatives – Core vs. Edge
Adapt & improve
existing business model
Disruptive & scalable
new business model

53. Original
Organization
Edge Initiatives
Core Initiatives
Balancing innovation & risk
Reinventing organizations dealing with the immune system

54. So what now?
ü Assess your Innovation Readiness
ü Scan & map the environment
ü Agile experimentation (2-3 pilot projects)
ü Put in place employee skill development plans
ü Leverage the ecosystem (no longer DIY)
🚀 ExO workshop / ExO Sprint

55. WWJBD?(what would Jeff Bezos Do)

56. What is your MOONSHOT?
What is the one area of your work
where you should shoot for
10X growth, rather than 10%?

57. Rob van Alphen
Founder
rob@schoolofdisruption.comschoolofdisruption.com