How did Gatorade revitalize itself in the wake of Red Bull and Starbucks? How did Etsy come to be? What makes one company or brand thrive while others languish in today's fast-paced, ever- changing marketplace?
There's no doubt hard work is involved, but Soren Kaplan shows you can't do it by simply creating a big vision and implementing a set plan. In his trailblazing debut, Kaplan gives business leaders the tools to do exactly what they're taught to avoid: embrace surprise -- the new key to business innovation.
For Kaplan, breakthrough success is all about "leapfrogging." Instead of fighting against uncertainty, Kaplan reveals how to use it to break down limiting mindsets and barriers to change the game. Using his LEAPS process (Listen, Explore, Act, Persist, and Seize), leaders learn to recognize and harness surprising experiences and events as a way to create solutions that leap beyond the current expectations of customers, partners, employees, and the competition. By highlighting specific ways to transform both good and bad surprises into unique opportunities, Kaplan encourages leaders to compete by embracing counterintuitive ideas, managing paradoxes, and even welcoming failure.
Now is the time to challenge assumptions and reinvent what is possible. All organizations -- from large corporations to those just starting out -- have the potential to take a significant leap forward by turning today's increasingly uncertain environment into a tool for unprecedented success. Kaplan's Leapfrogging is the new handbook for the modern leader.
