Gary P. Hamel (born 1954) is an American management consultant. He is a founder of Strategos, an international management consulting firm based in Chicago. (wikipedia)
Fact is, inventing an innovative business model is often mostly a matter of serendipity.
Taking risks, breaking the rules, and being a maverick have always been important but today they are more crucial than ever.
Businesses fail when they over-invest in what is at the expense of what could be.
Any company that cannot imagine the future won't be around to enjoy it.
In a well-functioning democracy, citizens have the option of voting their political masters out of office. Not so in most companies.
Building human-centered organizations doesn't imply a return to the paternalistic, corporate welfare practices of the 19th century. Most of us don't want to be nannied.
An adaptable company is one that captures more than its fair share of new opportunities. It's always redefining its 'core business' in ways that open up new avenues for growth.
I'm a capitalist by conviction and profession. I believe the best economic system is one that rewards entrepreneurship and risk-taking, maximizes customer choice, uses markets to allocate scarce resources and minimizes the regulatory burden on business.
I'm not one of those professors whose office is encased floor-to-ceiling with books. By the way, I think academics do this to intimidate their visitors.
It doesn't matter much where your company sits in its industry ecosystem, nor how vertically or horizontally integrated it is - what matters is its relative 'share of customer value' in the final product or solution, and its cost of producing that value.