Outsiders can be a great source of transformation

Now and then, an outsider with a fresh vision or a new way of doing things enters the scene and completely transforms a scientific area, an industry, or a society. Consider Katalin Karikó, who overcame all obstacles to develop the mRNA technology that resulted in the world receiving Covid-19 vaccinations at record speed. Karikó began working with RNA as a student in Hungary but came to the United States in her late twenties. She is a butcher's daughter and was reared in a tiny adobe home in the former Eastern bloc with no running water or refrigerator. She endured rejection after rejection, contempt from coworkers, and even the prospect of deportation for decades. Today, Karikó's groundbreaking work on mRNA lies at the core of BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines, and many scientists are asking for him to be awarded the Nobel Prize.?

What happened to cause that? According to the research of professors Gino Cattani and Simone Ferriani, there are some factors that help outsiders to be the sparkle of transformation a company may have.

Disruption is a marketing problem

Most established organizations and sectors tend to replicate incumbent groups' power and privilege structures, making it more difficult for outsiders to have their ideas acknowledged and prove their value. Outsiders are frequently needed to pursue extraordinary entrepreneurial accomplishments in art, science, and business since they possess the same characteristics that put them at a disadvantage inside established occupational hierarchies and professional categories.

The main challenge for exceptional outsiders is often selling their ideas precisely because of their disruptive consequences. “Disruptive technology should be presented as a marketing issue, not a technical challenge,” said Clayton Christensen in his 1997 book The Innovator's Dilemma.

A new perspective from a new position

Outsiders see solutions that incumbents miss because they are less bound by the norms and standards to which insiders adhere. However, the paradox is that the same social standing that allows outsiders to pursue innovative ideas also limits their capacity to get support and acknowledgment for their efforts.

The study revealed a relatively regular pattern of innovation. Outsiders often innovate by acting on fresh ideas and experiences in the environment they join but are acquainted within their previous context. You may assume that successful outsiders are statistical outliers. Outsiders weren't anomalies: the chances of creative success were most excellent in a border zone between the center and the peripheral, by artists who were part of the system but had not lost contact with its edges, according to this research.

Access to the center confers legitimacy, while exposure to the periphery provides innovation.

Integrating outsider’s views through an AGILE approach

In the age of information overload, the matrix's model glory days seem to be over, particularly for companies in rapidly changing industries. Motorola and Eastman Kodak immediately spring to mind, but Nokia, once the world's most powerful cell phone manufacturer, is perhaps the most cautionary example.

Nokia reorganized itself along with network concepts into market classes – digital, cell phones, and corporate solutions – and further among consumer uses and lifestyles in 2003, as its early creative push waned and rivals caught up. The market-facing business leaders were expected to be innovative while still sharing corporate funds (e.g., software systems, software applications, and software creation, production, procurement, and dispersal) as they developed differentiated goods. You know what happened next.

The Agile methodology, developed by computer programmers in the 2000s, is often viewed as a solution to the teamwork and function uncertainty issues that plague network organizations. Workers in Agile organizations develop small multi-functional organizations that are geared to the needs of consumers and can make decisions. Teams work in “sprints” of action-learning and swift decision-making, adapting rapidly to changing circumstances and resolving inter-team disputes without reporting upwards. In this environment, it is more likely that an outsider can make a real difference.

Agile organizations maintain a small top-level executive team while replacing most of the conventional middle organizational structure, which emphasized task and input heterogeneity, with flat and agile networks of independent, small multipurpose teams. Employees in matrix organizations often feel powerless and micromanaged because they report to numerous supervisors with conflicting goals. Employees in agile companies are empowered to assume responsibility and transparency, but only if they have the right attitude and versatility.

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