The Firm
In 2012 our Founder and CEO, Ron Adner, published The Wide Lens to share with the larger business community the results of decades of research into the difference between great innovations that fail and great innovations that succeed. This breakthrough research showed how and why innovation success depends on building robust ecosystem strategies. In 2021 he published Winning the Right Game, which built on this work to ask as the next level question: how should your approach to your strategy, your opportunities, and your threats change in a world where ecosystem dynamics govern the way that you, your partners, and your potential rivals pursue growth.
The Strategy Insight Group was founded to help clients navigate this new landscape, with a focus on eliminating strategy blind spots and building robust go-to-market strategies for complex ecosystems. Our proprietary processes and methodologies combine decades of award winning research with decades of experience working with clients across the world and across the economic spectrum. We have successfully transformed strategy at organizations ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to government entities to entrepreneurial startups.
The Wide Lens
This book is about the difference between great innovations that succeed and great innovations that fail. It is about the blind spots that undermine great managers in great companies even if they identify real customer needs, deliver great products, and beat their competition to market. It is about why, with ever greater frequency, your success depends not just on your ability to execute your own promises but also on whether a host of partners—some visible, some hidden—deliver on their promises too.
Winning the Right Game
The basis of competition is changing. Are you prepared? Rivalry is shifting from well-defined industries to broader ecosystems: automobiles to mobility platforms; banking to fintech; television broadcasting to video streaming. Your competitors are coming from new directions and pursuing different goals from those of your familiar rivals. In this world, succeeding with the old rules can mean losing the new game. Winning the Right Game introduces the concepts, tools, and frameworks necessary to confront the threat of ecosystem disruption and to develop the strategies that will let your organization play ecosystem offense.
Our Team
Founder & CEO
Ron Adner
Dr. Adner is a speaker, consultant, and advisor to companies around the world. In addition to being the Founder and CEO of the Strategy Insight Group, Ron is the Leverone Chaired Professor and Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Dr. Adner’s award winning research and teaching focus on innovation, strategy, and entrepreneurship. His work introduces a new perspective on the relationship between firms, customers, and the broader ‘innovation ecosystems’ in which they interact to create value.
Dr. Adner’s work is a rare convergence of rigorous academic research, profound managerial insights, and practical, powerful frameworks. Applied, tested, and validated in some of the world’s leading companies, his ‘Wide Lens’ approach to seeing the bigger strategy picture has been transformative in driving effective innovation in both the corporate and social sectors. His approach to ecosystem strategy was foundational to the U.S. governments Operation Warp Speed COVID-19 vaccine initiative.
His two books, The Wide Lens: What Successful Innovators See that Others Miss (2012) and Winning the Right Game: How to Disrupt, Defend, and Deliver in a Changing World (October 2021) have been heralded as landmark contributions to the strategy literature. Clayton Christensen (Innovator’s Dilemma) described his work as “Path-breaking” and Jim Collins (Good to Great) has called him “One of our most important strategic thinkers for the 21st century.”
Dr. Adner’s research has been published in leading academic journals including Management Science, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Rand Journal of Economics, Academy of Management Review, and in edited book chapters. His managerial articles have been published in numerous outlets including the Harvard Business Review, MIT/Sloan Management Review, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Forbes, Wired, The Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Adner holds a PhD and an MA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as master's and bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Prior to joining Tuck, he was the Akzo-Nobel Fellow of Strategic Management at INSEAD, where he served on the faculty for ten years.
Senior Vice President & Chief Operating officer
Jennifer Endicott
Jennifer Endicott has spent more than 25 helping companies achieve their goals. She began her career in operational roles in institutional pharmacy, home care and private physician practice where she developed broad knowledge of ancillary areas within the healthcare industry and more importantly a skill with collaborating with physicians on multiple strategic initiatives. With those experiences she joined a national consultancy, Navvis & Company, where she developed strong capabilities in system strategy and alignment models.
After a 6 year run in consulting, she went back to the healthcare industry where she developed further skills in value-based contracting, accountable care organization development, clinically integrated network development and population health.
Most recently Jennifer served as the Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy & External Relations at Baystate Health, Inc., an integrated delivery system in Western Massachusetts. Her responsibilities included system strategy and business development as well as marketing, internal communications, public affairs, government affairs, the Baystate Health Foundation, and community relations.
At The Strategy Insight Group, Jennifer is Chief Operating Officer and SVP, and oversees all aspects of the firm’s activities.
Ms. Endicott holds a BS in business administration from the University of Florida and a Masters in Health Care Delivery Science from Dartmouth College.
director
Brandon Smith PhD
Brandon Smith is an expert in innovation strategy and digital technology adoption. He has worked with dozens of clients, including Fortune 50 companies, VC and PE firms and startups, on their strategic objectives and a variety of market research needs surrounding innovation initiatives. In particular, he has worked with a number of large industrial clients developing strategies around IoT and digital initiatives.
Dr. Smith’s technical and business background allow him to work across a variety of industries, including industrial automation, energy and power, healthcare, biotech/pharma, aerospace, manufacturing, financial services, artificial intelligence applications, venture capital and private equity and many others. He has focused on digital transformations within several industries, and developed business cases for IoT, machine learning and artificial intelligence applications.
As an R&D Engineer, Dr. Smith worked on over 40 projects, including designing and building components for the Mars Curiosity Rover, building smart phone compatible medical devices, developing materials for nasal vaccination devices and developing computer software for modeling fluid dynamic flows in chemical exposure incidents. He received the NASA Group Achievement Award for his work on the Mars Curiosity Rover.
Dr. Smith holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Dartmouth where he was an NSF Fellow and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with highest distinction from Willamette University.