The Movement is Well Underway

Today, there are an estimated 20,000 ExOs worldwide. That’s an impressive number, but it’s still a tiny fraction of the number of enterprises on the planet. Many incubators like Rokk3r Inc. in Miami use the model to build all their companies. A product called ExO Builder even leads cohorts of startups in building out ExOs as a standardized process. 

Bringing together the Top 100 ExO data, the Fortune 100 results, ten years of anecdotes, and the various case studies from governments, we strongly believe that over the course of this decade, every organization, every startup, every non-profit, every government department, and every impact project will be structured as an ExO. The data is incontrovertible: the model is just better and can deliver exceptional stakeholder outcomes.

In this new and revised playbook, we further document the ExO, drawing on the rich store of details, case studies, and content that has transformed our understanding of this phenomenon over the past decade. 

We don’t claim to have all the answers. But, based upon our own experiences, both good and bad, we believe we can offer management teams a path through this era of hyper-accelerated innovation and competition, as well as into the new opportunities (and responsibilities) presented by our rapidly changing world. As we said in the first book: If we can’t guarantee you success, we can at least put you on the right playing field and show you the new rules of the game. These two advantages, plus your own initiative, offer good odds for being a winner in the world of Exponential Organizations. 

We hope this book will provide a taste of what the exponential future looks like—and leave you hungry to learn more. We intend to expand on this body of work with a series of books over the next few years that each take on a particular topic in the field: for example, MTP and corporate transformation, as well as a detailed operating manual for corporations on applying exponential theory to social institutions, including nonprofits and governments. This library builds on the following critical books:

• The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil

• Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

• Exponential Organizations by Salim Ismail, Yuri van Geest, and Michael S. Malone (with Peter Diamandis)

We hope that this growing set of ExO books will not only elucidate an all-encompassing vision of exponential theory as a fundamental new cultural force but will also provide a detailed roadmap of how to get there. 

Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns and Moore’s Law long ago broke from the confines of semiconductors to utterly transform human society. Today, Exponential Organizations are the latest embodiment of acceleration in human culture and enterprise. And they are overhauling commerce and other aspects of modern life at a scorching pace, rapidly leaving behind the old world of “linear” organizations. Those enterprises that don’t jump aboard soon will be left on the ash heap of history, joining Iridium, Kodak, Polaroid, Philco, Blockbuster, Nokia, and a host of other once-great, industry-dominant corporations that failed to adapt.