The time to revolutionize or perish

Salim Ismail, following the sale of over a quarter of a million books on the Exponential Organizations Model, has developed a 10-week sprint methodology.

Why does Uber not come from the transportation industry, why does Airbnb not come from the hotel industry, why does Wikipedia not come from the encyclopedia industry, or why does YouTube not come from the media? "Large organizations have an immune system that slows them down for innovation," says Salim Ismail, author of the book Exponential Organizations; a book that has been quite revolutionary in clearly showing why the most successful organizations of the 21st century are at least 10 times faster, cheaper, and more efficient than large organizations founded in the 20th century. It's as if the large organizations created in the 20th century or before were racing cars while their 21st-century competition was flying planes. That is, in the Digital Age, the rules of the game have changed, and today it's not about big versus small; it's about fast versus slow. For example, while the Catholic Church has changed very little over the past centuries, video games have evolved enormously in just three decades. While the educational system remains the 18th-century Prussian model, your smartphone is more powerful than the computers that sent man to the moon. And while the political party system continues with the same structure from the 17th century, today anyone with access to Google has more information than Bill Clinton did when he was president of the United States.

Most large organizations think that the world will take a long time to change, without realizing that there are technologies like Artificial Intelligence, software, 3D printers, solar energy, biotechnology, nanotechnology, blockchain, virtual reality, augmented reality, among others, that are doubling their capacity every five to 24 months, which is why they are known as exponential technologies. These exponential technologies are revolutionizing the world so strongly, bringing with them the Fourth Industrial Revolution, that they are even causing the downfall of organizations that were once giants and dominant, such as Kodak and Blockbuster, companies designed for a linear world (slow changes) and not for an exponential world (rapid changes). Hence, the phrase of investor David Rose becomes increasingly relevant every day: "Any organization created for the 20th century is doomed to fail in the 21st century." But how can large organizations survive exponential technologies and the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Salim Ismail, after selling over a quarter of a million books on the Exponential Organizations Model, has developed a 10-week sprint methodology and has advised large companies like Procter & Gamble, as well as cities like Medellín and Miami, to migrate to 21st-century models. It seems too good to be true to think that there is a model to migrate companies and governments to a 21st-century model in just 10 weeks, passing through the stages:

• Awareness of exponential changes
• Disruptive brainstorming
• Prototype development
• Market launch

However, Salim Ismail and the global exponential ecosystem he has formed are achieving impressive results. One of the most interesting things is that this community is about to release "its secret formula" to the public for free and open use in an Open Source style, so that any organization can migrate to the Digital Age. Furthermore, they will launch a second book in 2018 called Exponential Transformations and a platform, showing with all this a true example of how an exponential consultancy works. The famous futurist Alvin Toffler said, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn," a very clear example of why in the 21st century, the rule for organizations will be to revolutionize or die.