43. Dual Transformation Is The Future...And Nobody's Prepared

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Feb 9, 2026

Discussion of why organizations cling to dying cores instead of building new growth. Exploration of the tensions between running today’s business and incubating tomorrow’s. Practical moves for funding, operating, and protecting a separate growth engine. Examination of emotional and incentive traps that derail transformation efforts.

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ANECDOTE

Reading Ulysses As Type-Two Fun

Sam reads books that are 'way too hard' like Ulysses and calls that type-two fun.
He enjoys difficult projects in retrospect even if they're unpleasant while doing them.

insights

INSIGHT

Built To Repeat The Past

Companies are built to do what they already do, which makes them vulnerable when that core decays.
Dual Transformation says you must both reposition the core and incubate a separate new growth engine simultaneously.

insights

INSIGHT

Three-Part Transformation Model

Dual Transformation splits the work into A: reposition today's business and B: create a separate new growth engine.
A capabilities link should let you 'fight unfairly' without dragging the core into the new venture's bureaucracy.

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What is Dual Transformation and Why It Matters

01:09 • 4min

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Why Companies Double Down Instead of Reinventing

04:41 • 2min

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Dual Transformation Applies to Individuals Too

06:35 • 48sec

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The Three-Part Framework: A, B, and Capabilities Link

07:24 • 3min

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Dual Transformation vs. Disruption (Christensen)

10:02 • 2min

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Why Incumbents Struggle to Incubate the New

12:07 • 5min

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CEO Incentives and the Urgent-Important Trap

16:58 • 4min

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The Three Crises of Dual Transformation

21:05 • 4min

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Emotional Work: Honoring Past Success While Shifting

25:18 • 6min

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If You're an Internal Change Agent, Start Here

31:01 • 3min

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Practical Moves: Pulling the Spark Out of Leaders

34:28 • 5min

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Idea 1: Weekly Customer Feedback Routines

39:28 • 4min

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Idea 2: Import Less of the Old Operating System

43:19 • 3min

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Idea 3: Write Manifests for Both Businesses

• Mentioned in 229 episodes

The Innovator's Dilemma

When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

Clayton M. Christensen

In this influential business book, Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can lose market leadership when they fail to adapt to disruptive innovations. Christensen explains why companies often miss new waves of innovation and provides a set of rules for capitalizing on disruptive technologies. The book uses examples from various industries, including the disk drive, mechanical excavator, steel, and computer industries, to illustrate trends that lead to success or failure in the face of disruptive technologies.

#7172

• Mentioned in 7 episodes

Dual Transformation

How to Reposition Today's Business While Creating the Future

Scott D. Anthony

Mark W. Johnson

Clark G. Gilbert

In 'Dual Transformation,' Scott D. Anthony, Clark G. Gilbert, and Mark W. Johnson provide a framework for leaders to navigate the challenges of transforming their existing businesses while also creating new, innovative businesses. The book offers practical strategies and case studies to help organizations reposition their current operations and build new growth engines.

#183

• Mentioned in 120 episodes

Ulysses

James Joyce

Ulysses is a groundbreaking and complex modernist novel that chronicles the experiences of three Dubliners over a single day. The novel is loosely based on Homer's epic poem 'The Odyssey', with Leopold Bloom paralleling Odysseus, Stephen Dedalus paralleling Telemachus, and Molly Bloom paralleling Penelope. It explores themes such as antisemitism, human sexuality, British rule in Ireland, Catholicism, and Irish nationalism. The novel is known for its innovative use of language and narrative techniques, including stream-of-consciousness and multiple literary styles. It captures the essence of early 20th-century Dublin, providing a detailed snapshot of the city's social, political, and cultural landscape.

Most organizations are built to do exactly what they do…and that’s the problem. When a core business starts to decay due to disruption, automation, or shifting customer demand, the instinct is to double down on efficiency, cost cutting, and short-term fixes. But that focus often crowds out the harder, riskier work of building what comes next. Nearly a decade ago, Dual Transformation offered a clear and compelling framework for this dilemma, yet nobody seems to be actually doing it.

In this episode, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin unpack why dual transformations are so rare, why it’s even harder than it sounds, and why it matters more than ever in an AI-shaped economy. They dig into the tensions between “business A” (the core) and “business B” (the future), the funding and operating system traps that kill new growth, and practical moves leaders and internal change agents can make to actually pull of two transformations at once instead of just talking about it.

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