Shoot the Moon

If the most important force in the Exponential Organization is its Massive Transformative Purpose, then the actual execution of that MTP can be viewed as the Corporate Moonshot. 

What is the relationship between an MTP and a Moonshot? Think of the MTP as a canvas upon which a company “paints” its Moonshot initiatives. Moonshots need to be pursued within the context of an MTP, both fueled and restrained by it.

How many Moonshots can a company take? As many as it desires and resources allow. Put simply: a company has one MTP, but that MTP can be manifested in multiple Moonshots. Alphabet, for example, has created a division called “X” (their Moonshot factory) led by Astro Teller, their captain of Moonshots. Today X has thousands of employees and dozens of Moonshots at any one time at various stages of development: in medical technology, AI, robotics, communications, and more. Each of these Moonshots is a strategy, a plan to get closer to the MTP. Every Moonshot is fueled by, and in service of, the MTP. The grander the Moonshot, the more its achievement will depend upon exponential technologies. 

The name may be new, but great companies have long pursued the philosophy of Moonshots, usually through their research laboratories—think Bell Labs, IBM, Xerox PARC, and 3M. Thanks to today’s technology, these activities can now encompass every department within a company in real-time.

Importantly, unlike the MTP, Moonshots actually can be achieved. So, if “Making humanity multiplanetary” is an MTP, then “establishing a permanent and self-sustaining presence on Mars” is a Moonshot. The first may never be really accomplished (there are always more planets), but we can complete the second.

Just imagine the possible network effects in a global economy populated by thousands of Exponential Organizations pursuing moonshots to realize world-changing MTPs.