Super-Flexibility for Knowledge Enterprises

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

   PDF

2. Super-Flexibility: A Toolkit for Dynamic Adaptation

   • Homa Bahrami, Stuart Evans

   Pages 1-13

3. Conceptual Foundations of Super-Flexibility: A Multi-Disciplinary Synthesis

   • Homa Bahrami, Stuart Evans

   Pages 15-41

4. The Research Laboratory: Silicon Valley’s Knowledge Ecosystem

   • Homa Bahrami, Stuart Evans

   Pages 43-60

5. Super-Flexible Ecosystems: Innovating by Recycling

   • Homa Bahrami, Stuart Evans

   Pages 61-76

6. Super-Flexible Strategies: Shifting Gears and Maneuvering Swift Turns

   • Homa Bahrami, Stuart Evans

   Pages 77-97

7. Super-Flexible Execution: Experimenting, Iterating and Recalibrating

   • Homa Bahrami, Stuart Evans

   Pages 99-121

8. Super-Flexible Organizations: Orgitechting Geo-Distributed Federations

   • Homa Bahrami, Stuart Evans

   Pages 123-152

9. Super-Flexible Leadership: Aligning Knowledge Workers Through Peer-Peer Practices

   • Homa Bahrami, Stuart Evans

   Pages 153-167

10. Becoming Super-Flexible: The Enterprise in Motion

    • Homa Bahrami, Stuart Evans

    Pages 169-176

11. Back Matter

    Pages 177-209

    PDF

strategy, but we also focus on execution. We talk about organizational design, and also refect on leadership practices. Our assumption is that in a dynamic world, leaders at all levels, have to constantly switch gears, wear different hats, and na- gate at different altitudes. They have to think about the “total” enterprise, not in terms of compartmentalized silos or felds of functional expertise. Much like a g- eral contractor, they have to draw on specialized expertise, as and when needed, yet keep the big picture in mind. Our hope is that our diagnostic tools can help teams develop a shared frame of reference and generate cross-functional dialogue. The third driving force behind this second edition is the gradual convergence between the worlds of entrepreneurial start-ups and challenges facing established corporations. Innovation, agility, and initiative are no longer the exclusive preserve of start-ups. Established companies are looking for ways to re-invent themselves, to innovate, to think creatively, and to make their enterprises more fexible, agile and entrepreneurial. We have had the good fortune to sit at the intersection of these two worlds. We hope our ideas can beneft both groups. We set out to provide a “buffet table”, a menu of options that can be helpful for the two ends of the spectrum.

• Dynamic Adaptation
• General Management
• Innovation
• Knowledge Workers
• Leadership
• Organizational Design
• Revision
• Super-flexibility
• business
• management
• organization
• organizations
• strategy

• Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, USA

  Homa Bahrami

• Silicon Valley Campus, Carnegie Mellon University, Moffett Field, USA

  Stuart Evans

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