“The Art of Opportunity is all about creatively discovering new growth opportunities for your company and crafting a collaborative strategy that will get you there. Not only is the content powerful, the design is stimulating for the eyes as well as the mind. Read this book and start innovating!”
—Ken Blanchard, Coauthor, The New One Minute Manager® and Collaboration Begins with You
“The Art of Opportunity will help trigger strategic renewal inside your organization. Creative, inspiring, fresh, and empirically grounded, this playbook to growth is bound to be an executive reference for many years to come.”
—Deryck J van Rensburg, President, Coca-Cola Global Ventures
“From the coffee table to the conference table —The Art of Opportunity challenges our traditional business models and mind-sets while providing a path and approach to success.”
—Paul Snyder, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility, InterContinental Hotels Group
“I love this book. Whether you're pushing an idea inside a large corporation, or creating your next big deal, this book gives you the framework, the tools, and the right questions to ask—not just to get you started—but to keep you going. In short, this book tells you how to organize your thinking with clarity, vision, precision and vigor.”
—Richard Black, Chief Data Architect, Deutsche Bank; Former Chief Technology Officer, Bank of England
“Clear, artful, and inspiring. A highly readable, practical, step-by-step guide for anyone who wants to identify, design, and launch strategic growth initiatives.”
—Dave Gray, Founder, XPLANE
“Innovation-obsessed visual thinkers, unite! This book may be your bible.”
—Sunni Brown, Chief Human Potentialist; Best-Selling Author, Gamestorming and The Doodle Revolution
“The Art of Opportunity presents compelling evidence, based on extensive experience, for the application of business design thinking by combining strategic innovation with inspiration from others. Their pragmatic approach offers existing businesses a framework to innovate or adapt in complex changing environments. Loved it!”
—Anne Bartlett-Bragg, PhD, Managing Director, Ripple Effect Group
“The Art of Opportunity is not just a book, but a road map helping to guide companies as they venture down the innovation path in search of new growth opportunities. It offers readers an actionable lens that includes the vital components of storytelling and what it means to take a user-centered approach in the new world of business model design thinking.”
—Saul Kaplan, Founder and Chief, Catalyst Business Innovation Factory; Author, The Business Model Innovation Factory
“The Art of Opportunity is not just another book on strategy! Sniukas, Lee, and Morasky created a practical tool to design future businesses. It is easy to read and use and spiced with brainstorming sessions you can run with your team. By using the book, I'm willing to bet companies can save fortunes on consultancy. Every business that wants to grow should go through this process.”
—Domenico Traverso, President, Work Function Division, Danfoss Power Solutions
“Visually beautiful, The Art of Opportunity is a fresh, new take on design thinking that offers practical tools for strategic innovation.”
—Mark Polson, Vice President Creativity and Strategic Capability Building, Estée Lauder Companies
“This book will dramatically alter both your business and personal life as you experience the very useful approach to innovation and strategy. Get on board and enjoy this inspirational journey.”
—Dr. Bob Lorber, CEO, The Lorber Kamai Consulting Group; Coauthor, Putting The One Minute Manager to Work and Doing What Matters
“The Art of Opportunity is not your typical strategy book. It offers a fresh approach to designing growth strategy with methods that are equally valuable to leaders of established businesses and new ventures.”
—Jeff Wright, Vice President, Strategy and Marketing, Autodesk
“Opportunities abound. We confront them every day, but they rarely appear as opportunities and do not come with labels to identify them as opportunities. As a blind person myself, I'm excited that the authors of this book use visualization as a tool to bring opportunities into our businesses and lives. Read, learn, and imagine.”
—Jim Stovall, Best-Selling Author, The Ultimate Gift
“The Art of Opportunity is a concise, richly detailed primer for organizations seeking growth through innovation, and change through disruption.”
—Jay Samit, Best-Selling Author, Disrupt You: Master Personal Transformation, Seize Opportunity, and Thrive in the Era of Endless Innovation
“Refreshingly pragmatic advice for business growth and development. This visualization approach was successful in aligning resources to solve my complex business issue.”
—David Lary, Vice President, Commercial Channel Partner Development and Programs, Print and Personal Systems, Hewlett-Packard
“The Art of Opportunity humanizes business innovation in its approach and accessible, visual presentation. A must-read for entrepreneurs who aim to disrupt industries.”
—Chip Joyce, CEO & Cofounder, Allied Talent
“In my job I am expected to know this information, but this book presents all necessary information so clearly, it's a piece of art! I am convinced that The Art of Opportunity will help thousands of managers gain knowledge much quicker than they could ever have done so in their working life. Well done, and thank you so much for the effort!”
—Silvester de Keijzer, Board Member, Swiss Made Im.
“The Art of Opportunity presents a clear field guide for creating new value for organizations. The methods and stories affirm that the most valuable parts of business are more art than science. Ignore at your own risk.”
—Michael Graber, Managing Partner, Southern Growth Studio
“A wonderful new tool for those feeling ‘stuck' with old approaches and business processes that are no longer effective.”
—Max Thelen, Former CEO, Filter
“Proven strategies from market innovators? Check. Step-by-step guides to structure your exploration? Check. Innovative visual explanations to engage and inspire? Triple-Check. If you're a market-maker, don't miss this book.”
—Kevin Tate, Cofounder, StepChange Group
“The Art of Opportunity is an innovation cocktail with a nice twist of visual thinking that will inspire application and growth.”
—Jim Wallace, Global Head of Agency Strategy and Management, Hewlett Packard
“What a bold and compelling book! It offers a thought-provoking new perspective on strategy and some important food for thought on how to discover and seize new opportunities. The strengths of The Art of Opportunity lie in its practical approach to validate strategies. It does not just claim that experimentation is important but shows how you can actually validate a strategy through experimentation. Bravo!”
—Anja Förster and Peter Kreuz, Best-Selling Authors, Entrepreneurs and Angel Investors
“A fresh approach to business design thinking that should give executives, decision makers, and leaders of strategic initiatives plenty of ideas for improving outcomes and delivering value.”
—Aaron Smith, Editor, ProjectsAtWork.com
“The Art of Opportunity is a beautifully crafted piece of work, so richly illustrated that at times I felt like I was reading a graphic novel. It is packed with fresh and varied case studies, most of which I hadn't come across before. But more importantly, this book is really useful. Whether you're an entrepreneur in the first throes of wrestling with a business idea, or a seasoned strategist at a large organization looking for new paths toward new opportunities, this is one of those rare how-to guides that actually overdelivers on the how-tos. My own copy will be well thumbed, for sure.”
—Mark Barden, Coauthor, A Beautiful Constraint
“Strategy made fun! An innovative way of making strategic innovation come alive. This book will bring out the best of both the right and left half of your brain. Great for novice strategists and old hands alike.”
—Ron Meyer, Professor, Corporate Strategy Tias Business School, Tilburg University
“Growing a business is all about identifying and leveraging opportunities. But where to start? How to know where to look? This book not only makes you change your thinking, it gets you moving, too, with novel and practical exercises that provide managers with a customizable pathway to growth.”
—Professor Helen Perks, University of Nottingham, UK
“How to make something challenging and complex easier to understand [and], easier to do by breaking it down into manageable and clear tasks. This book gives you very practical steps and advice on building new initiatives.”
—Stuart Curley, Vice President Enterprise Architecture, Northgate IS
“For anyone trying to navigate the complexities of value creation, The Art of Opportunity gets to the heart of how to operationalize entrepreneurship and innovation as the real engines behind strategic growth.”
—Wayne A. Simmons and Keary L. Crawford, Authors, GrowthThinking: Building the New Growth Enterprise
“The Art of Opportunity provides a refreshing view on how to grow performance in an increasingly visual and collaborative world. It is compelling and simple and just what the business landscape needs. Worthy read.”
—Crystal Fernando, Head of Global Commercial Delivery, InterContinental Hotels Group
“A fantastic and beautiful design-thinking manifesto for the visual learner in all of us.”
—Matt Moog, CEO, PowerReviews
“Sniukas, Lee, and Morasky have crafted a beautiful, full-color journey to innovation that takes you from beginning to end. The engaging visuals draw you in to understand the approach, while the simple step-by-step instructions get the thoughts out of your head and ready to execute. A must-read for anyone looking to tackle an opportunity they have spotted.”
—C. Todd Lombardo, Chief Design Strategist, Fresh Tilled Soil; Coauthor, Design Sprint
“Step by step, The Art of the Opportunity encourages a fresh, visual look at how to deliver new value to customers.”
—Doug Van Aman, Principal, Van Aman Communications
“Sniukas, Lee, and Morasky have artfully made complicated strategic design principles accessible to anyone looking to grow or build a business. The Art of Opportunity is a visually engaging guidebook that helps businesses of any size tap into their creativity to develop effective business strategies.”
—Catherine Palmer, Senior Industry Marketing Manager, Autodesk, LLC.
“Whilst managing Apple Education in EMEA, we discovered the power and resilience of visual communications, giving us the ability to translate complex digital engagement into simple, informative and meaningful illustrations and graphics. Today, The Art of Opportunity helps move this work forward another important stage.”
—Alan Greenberg, Former Apple Director Education EMEA Currently Advisory Board of 8GT Fund
“The Art of Opportunity is a key innovation masterpiece that is going to help me with our work with intrapreneurs at the largest entertainment media companies in the world.”
—John Huffman IV, Founder, HUFFMAN CO
“The Art of Opportunity blazes a welcome trail to successful business growth.”
—Kevin O'Keefe, Business leader and bestselling author, The Average American
“Impactful and practical. An excellent guide for strategic reflection and action.”
—Omar Baig, Head of Digital, Knowledge and Information Service, OECD
“Being, Knowing, and Doing are must-have disciplines for any team to succeed. This book helps guide teams with crisp insights and methodologies to rapidly frame innovation projects.”
—Ed Soo Hoo, Industry Fellow, UC Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology
“The Art of Opportunity clearly details how to achieve success through proven strategic innovation and visual thinking methodologies. The authors expertly plot a path along the journey based on years of experience in helping companies realize significant growth. Let great things happen to you by reading this book.”
—K.C. Teis, Vice President of Experience Design, Rackspace
“In working with over 150 SMEs in the last 12 months, I have found they want business support that is practical, visual, and guides them to make the right decisions by inspiration and example. The Art of Opportunity does this brilliantly. It brings key visual tools into one place and shows you how to use and implement them at every stage for your business' success. Excellent book, a must buy.”
—Mark Copsey, Director, RedKite Innovations; Growth coach and lecturer, Leeds Beckett University
“A clear and practical approach to uncovering growth opportunities hidden within your business and how to make them a reality and driving the top line.”
—Robert McKinnon, Former SVP and Head of PMO, InterContinental Hotels Group
“Destined to become ‘the bible' of incorporating business design thinking into building growth. It's a must-read.”
—Lars Crama, Chief Commercial Officer, InnoLeaps
“An easy-to-follow blueprint for customer-centric innovation to drive business growth. Had I had this book 10 years ago, I'd have saved tons on agency fees!”
—Heinz Waelchli, Chief Customer Officer at SnapAV
“It's not often a series of artful lateral choices are presented so elegantly that they can be pragmatically implemented like science. A must-read for leaders looking to innovate with their existing teams to create new value.”
—Shayne Smart, Founder, Geneva Conventions in Pictures
“Read this book with a pen in hand, because you'll want to start creating your next strategic innovation straight away. This practical guidebook to business design thinking will help you make the most of your customer opportunities.”
—Simon Terry, Chairman, Change Agents Worldwide
“Practical. Transformative. Actionable. Leaders should equip their staff with this innovative guide. Follow the instructions. Your business will grow.”
—Michael Neil, Former Director, Digital Marketing, Franklin Square Capital Partners
“The Art of Opportunity brings you the artful innovation approach to helping you discover new growth opportunities that you would expect given the title. The book contains many useful tools including some nice approaches to customer journey mapping and practical tools for workshop leaders. It also does a good job of making design thinking and growth planning accessible for the nonexpert innovator. Keep innovating!”
—Braden Kelley, Cofounder, InnovationExcellence.com, Author, Charting Change and Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire
“The question of how to effectively develop innovative business models with linkage to strategy innovation has remained unsolved—both in theory and in practice. This is one of the few books that unites the three components of strategy, business model innovations, as well as creativity techniques, by providing useful methods for corporate entrepreneurs.”
—Dr. Daniel Liedtke, COO, Hirslanden Private Hospital Group
“Sniukas, Lee, and Morasky provide a powerful framework that encourages and empowers readers to apply their own creativity to developing their growth strategy.”
—Robert Shepherd, Chief Development Officer and SVP Development, Design and Openings, Europe, InterContinental Hotels Group
Cover image: Matt Morasky
Copyright © 2016 by Marc Sniukas, Parker Lee, and Matt Morasky. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
Design: Bryan Zentz, Matt Morasky.
Illustration: Matt Morasky, Nathan Stang, Guonan, Elisa Gipson, Susanne LeBlanc, Graham Barey.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Sniukas, Marc, author. | Lee, Parker, author. | Morasky, Matt, author.
Title: The art of opportunity : how to build growth and ventures through strategic innovation and visual thinking / by Marc Sniukas, Parker Lee,
Matt Morasky.
Description: Hoboken : Wiley, 2016. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016002292 | ISBN 978-1-119-15158-6 (pbk.) | ISBN 978-1-119-15160-9 (ePDF) | ISBN 978-1-119-15159-3 (ePub)
Subjects: LCSH: Business planning. | Technological innovations—Management. | Organizational change.
Classification: LCC HD30.28 .S615 2016 | DDC 658.4/012—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016002292
To my wife for being patient with me and encouraging me to persist.
— Marc Sniukas
To my RFL and my family for unconditional love and support.
And to Aric, for helping me to fly.
— Parker Lee
To Bob and Sandy, whose support has never wavered, not once.
— Matt Morasky
When many of today's leaders joined the workforce, “innovation” was synonymous with research and development or process efficiencies—the hallmarks of traditional competitive advantage. Little did any of us know then, that in our lifetimes an entire occupational discipline would emerge to keep companies “innovative” or continuously inventive. Or that titles like “director of innovation” and “chief innovation officer” or even “chief imagination officer” would decorate corporate organization charts.
But it did. And for good reason. The relatively short span of time in which we've seen some of the titans of industry displaced by “innovative” start-ups put the entire business world on notice. And the message is clear: merely maintaining your position is no longer sufficient. New growth, the kind associated with genuine innovation, that will bring value to your customers, your business, and even the world around you is the only way to ensure survival.
This urgency is not only felt by those with the word “innovation” etched into their job titles, but from the top of the company to the bottom, we are now all corporate innovators. With all these people focused on the problem, we should have it solved, right? Well . . . , no.
The problem is, finding and capitalizing on new growth opportunities is hard—especially for established organizations that are often hampered by outdated mindsets, legacy business models, or large-scale bureaucracies. Core competencies can morph into corporate rigidities if we're not strategically alert and careful. Under these types of circumstances, the ability to “think outside the box” and create new growth initiatives is difficult. But with increased urgency comes the need to find a new path to growth—one that isn't rocket science. What we need is a road map to help discover, catalyze, and curate opportunities to deliver real growth. That's what this book helps us do.
Marc, Parker, and Matt have authored a rich, compelling journey for anyone pursuing new growth. In the process of introducing new ways of thinking about growth strategy and strategic innovation such as noncustomers, essential customer needs, and the building blocks of business and revenue models, they also introduce us to new ways of working. Throughout the book visual thinking methodologies and other business design thinking principles improve how you approach crafting and executing the strategy to build your new growth business. And these are supported by visualizations, tools, and templates that help you apply the approach to your own needs.
Additionally, they comfortably switch from well-known examples that illustrate concepts to fresh, unpublished case studies that serve to inspire the reader. In the end, they have created a provocative playbook grounded in rigorous academic research combined with practical, immersive experience.
While “innovation” isn't new, The Art of Opportunity makes it much more accessible to everyone. And that's something every corporate entrepreneur searching for new growth urgently needs.
—Deryck J van Rensburg, President, Coca-Cola Global Ventures
We offer our sincere thanks to our colleagues from who provided insight and expertise that was instrumental in researching, designing, and writing The Art of Opportunity.
We are deeply grateful to the brilliant design and production work of Bryan Zentz, who went over and above the call of duty to create a book that is an enticing work of art.
Kudos to our stalwart marketing team:
Tori Dunlap, Lucy Kelly, Hannah Vogel, and Heidi Hinshaw for assistance with marketing.
For providing design, illustration, and production talent, we applaud:
Graham Barey, Hermen Lutje Berenbroek, Elisa Gipson, Guonan, Susanne LeBlanc, and Nathan Stang.
A special thanks to our XPLANE colleagues, both past and present:
As a source of inspiration, support, encouragement, and professional camaraderie.
For generous use of office space: Jon McDonald at The Good and David Howitt of The Meriwether Group.
We are also thankful for the encouragement, support, and talent of:
John Willig of Literary Services, Inc.; Lia Ottaviano, Peter Knox, Lauren Freestone, and Matt Holt of John Wiley & Sons; Joan Bosisio, Jen Heady, and Jacqueline Bole of Stern Strategy Group for strategy and public relations support; Max Thelen for legal counsel, advice, and general wisdom; Guanon for website design; Ann Smith, Lisa Lavora-De Beule, and Natalie Hanson of A.wordsmith.
For sharing their pearls of wisdom with us, we are immensely grateful to:
Bob Kelly, Microsoft; Anne Bartlett-Bragg, Ripple Effect Group; Mark Baker, Oracle; Sunni Brown, SB Inc; Tom Williams, Salesforce; Jim Kreller, Vanco Payment Solutions; Geoffrey Moore, Chasm Institute; Loius Patler, The B.I.T. Group; Nancy Duarte, Duarte Design; Dave Gray, XPLANE; Robert L. Lorber, PhD, Lorber Kamai Consulting Group; David Allen, David Allen Company; Jay Samit, Robert I. Sutton, and Mark Polson, Estée Lauder Companies; Paul Snyder, IHG; Robert McKinnon; Michael Graham; James Macanufo; Chip Joyce, Allied Talent; Jim Wallace, HP; Jeff Wright, Autodesk; Ron Diorio, The Economist; Soon Yu, VF Corporation; Omar Baig, OECD; Richard Black, Deutsche Bank; Bryson Koehler, Weather.com; Stuart Curley, Arriva; Gary Fisher, UC Davis; Patrick van der Pijl, Busines Models Inc.; Mark Barden, eatbigfish; Glenn A. Oclassen, Jr., Replicon; Penny Fondy, Wits' End Productions; Michael Graber, Southern Growth Studio; Dion Hinchcliffe, 7Summits; Jonas Koffler and David Roberts, The Difference; and our research participants, especially Dr. Daniel Liedtke and Klinik Hirslanden.
And, finally, many thanks to our community of Art of Opportunists for volunteering to review early content and provide their wisdom, advice, and support:
Apostolos Apostolides, Patrick Attallah, Omar Baig, Anne Bartlett-Bragg, Tanner Bechtel, Richard Black, Jacqueline Bole, Sunni Brown, Gary Burt, Mike Colarossi, Mercedes Concepcion-Gray, Mark Copsey, John Cousineau, Lars Crama, Stuart Curley, Hilary Curry, Kord Davis, Silvester de Keijzer, Peter de Wit, Matthew Dennison, Alexander Doujak, Crystal Fernando, Claire Francois Michael Graber, Dave Gray, Alan Greenberg, Kamal Hassan, Jen Heady, Kira Higgs, Heidi Hinshaw, Bob Kelly, Lori Kenney, Timur Khojayev, George Kurtyka, David Lary, C Todd Lombardo, Liz Lufkin, Smita Master, Rob McKinnon, Horacio Miranda, Karl Mundorff, Martina Naerr-Fuchs, Eva Nell, Kate Niederhoffer, Niall O'Doherty, Andres Pacheco, Vincenzo Pallotta, Catherine Palmer, Louis Patler, Gunter Pfau, Max Rehkopf, Stuart Rolinson, Fernando Saenz-Marrero, Brendan Sherry, Paul Snyder, Jodi Sweetman, Kevin Tate, The Doujak Team, K. C. Teis, Max Thelen, Rafal Tomczyk, Mike Turner, Heinz Waelchli, Jim Wallace, Margaret Ward, Terry Ward, Scott Wilkinson, and Thomas Williams.
We wrote this book to answer the question: How can established companies create new growth strategies and businesses from within their organizations?
By looking at how successful companies addressed this question and overcame their growth challenges, we envisioned and framed an approach that reduces risk, delivers results faster, and has a higher likelihood of success. But our approach should not be misconstrued as a guaranteed method. Finding and seizing new growth opportunities is an art. And like any art, it requires personal dedication, professional rigor, and a passionate drive to succeed. Our experience has shown us that those who apply the strategic and visual thinking methods described in this book not only improve their chances of discovering growth opportunities, but also are in a better position to realize the kind of success experienced by today's most innovative companies.
In writing and designing The Art of Opportunity, we have applied many of the same processes and principles presented in the book to our own work. Our collaborative process was greatly accelerated by the same type of visual thinking activities and methods for identifying, designing, and launching opportunities. We have also applied a diverse team-based approach, with each author bringing a unique set of professional and cultural experiences to broaden our perspective not only on the subject matter, but also on the reader's journey. Finally, we have followed a system of active iteration, creating the book in cycles and seeking input whenever possible to improve the content and presentation.
Our thought has been inspired by the works of Gary Hamel, Clayton Christensen, W. Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne, David Teece, Dave Gray, Don Kohlberg, Jim Bagnell, and David Kelley, among others, and is informed by our professional work with companies around the globe. The concepts we outline in this book were cultivated over the last 20 years out of our own original academic research and our experience applying what we learned and developed to help organizations grow, innovate, and transform.
To help the reader better understand and, ultimately, craft new growth opportunities, The Art of Opportunity has been structured around the idea of a “Reader's Journey.” This journey introduces concepts, demonstrates principles, and presents activities in a way that allows the reader to both understand and practice the art of opportunity. While we recognize that there are virtually an unlimited number of routes to find new growth, we hope the lessons learned along the way will enable the reader to more successfully explore and create their own growth journey. The “Reader's Journey” includes:
