How to evolve in a rapidly changing world:

A study of innovative firms shows that most innovation is evolutionary, not revolutionary:

• Innovation comes from “inside the (job) box” of assigned and incentivized efforts that uncover bottom-up opportunities
• The techniques used to uncover and evaluate opportunities are similar across innovative firms and can used by employees in diverse industries.

Managers often perceive market changes as occurring abruptly, referred to as Black Swans by people who do not recognize the upcoming event.  However, most events (even natural disasters) evolve over time and are predicted to some extent by numerous authorities. Failure to foresee evolutionary events can lead to disaster:

• Sony invented the Walkman but failed to match its capabilities to the evolving internet.  Instead, Apple developed the iPod/iTunes and destroyed the Sony Walkman business. 

The established 21st century Corporation’s innovation problem is changing events from “black swans” to "gray swans" that are evolutionary opportunities. With change growing exponentially the opportunity cost of failing to evolve is perhaps fatal.

• Most evolutionary events will be minor but some will be major, which we call “cliff events” because if they are missed, sales will decline abruptly.

Every corporation has people who are exposed to the changing marketplace and have ideas on the next evolution in service. 

• Employees, customers and the users of related products are experiencing evolution in real time.

Every manager has the opportunity to access this pool of experience and ideas but few are trained in the techniques used by innovators. 

• Most managers focus on the narrow range of opportunities easily projectable on a straight line basis.  
• When a market change occurs, they are often committed to a path that, if it doesn’t run off a cliff, allows competition to outflank them.

OTTM gives managers and other employees the training and knowledge on how to ask for, send and interpret the bottom up feedback needed to create growth. 

• These are proven techniques used by innovation firms to access group knowledge in a modern matrix corporation.
• The result is defined problems and opportunities that fit inside the “box” of appropriate employee’s corporate responsibilities.