Posts by Ed Morrison
Modularity
Modularity enables small things to grow into large things. Solar cells become solar arrays that become solar power stations. Modularity also makes sense to understand living systems. It’s a central concept in evolutionary biology
Read MoreSeeing the World with S Curves
My mentor David Morgenthaler, taught me the importance of seeing the world with S curves. It’s a shorthand version of seeing organizations and markets as a living system.
Read MoreThe Concept of a Business Ecosystem
A business ecosystem is a familiar idea. In his 1993 Harvard Business Review article, Predators and Prey, James Moore introduced the concept. But here we are, thirty years later, and most leaders struggle with the concept.
Read MoreOrganizations Must Adapt
It’s time to ditch our static view of the enterprise. Organizations are complex systems that must adapt to survive. But the challenge is tricky. Every organization faces a continuously dancing landscape of opportunities and risks.
Read MoreLoose Hierarchies
MIT professor Thomas Malone wrote an important book, The Future of Work, nearly two decades ago. In it, he introduced “loose hierarchies,” a valuable concept lost mainly to practice. It’s time to resurrect it.
Read MoreDeveloping Entrepreneurial & Innovation Ecosystems
Developing entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems matters to regenerate our economies. But too few civic and political leaders know why this step is so important. What’s worse, they don’t know how to start.
Read MoreCollaboration
Collaboration is a process of creating shared benefits. It’s also a process of co-evolution, of growing and adapting. Business punditry too often presents collaboration as a thing, or, worse, as a single event.
Read MoreAdaptive Challenges
Yesterday, a colleague asked why we don’t use the term “goals” with Strategic Doing. Instead, we focus on outcomes that we can measure. What’s the difference? The drawing below explains.
Read MoreHow to Become Better at Implementation
The US is good at invention but not very good at implementation. We have generated a boatload of Nobel prizes but stumble at the broader challenges of technology adoption and deployment.
Read MoreTake a New Approach to Strategy
Strategy in turbulent environments is different from conventional strategic planning. Traditional approaches are too expensive to formulate, too challenging to implement, and too brittle for a rapidly shifting environment.
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