Experiment more often and more cheaply

“The next big opportunity never looks that way at the outset. Big opportunities grow out of successive rounds of experimentation.”

To evolve more rapidly, organizations must experiment more frequently. Management processes that seek to arrive at the “one best strategy” through top-down, analytical methods must give way to models based on the biological principles of variety (generate lots of options), selection (find low-cost ways to test critical assumptions), and retention (ramp up spending once a strategy has started to gain traction). In the future, top management won’t “make” strategy but will create an environment in which there is lots of fast-paced, strategic experimentation.