About

Corporate innovators are practitioners. They build businesses that solve a customer problem in return for a profit. Because this is hard, much thinking has gone into developing theories, by academics and other practitioners alike, to help the corporate innovator. Theories are models, developed to predict an outcome given a set of circumstances and actions. If carefully applied, they can be powerful tools for the corporate innovator.

But while it is the responsibility of every theory’s author to clarify under what circumstances the theory applies, corporate innovators often need the reverse: to understand which theory is best suited to their particular circumstances. Unfortunately, therefore, although each individual theory might be a powerful tool, collectively the theories rarely constitute an effective toolbox.

Premainstream seeks to solve this conundrum. Its mission is to help corporate innovators make optimal use of the theories at their disposal: starting from the circumstances and recommending actions given a desired outcome. Premainstream does this in three ways:

■ First, since different theories have different authors in general, they are often described using different terminology. The blog translates theories into a common terminology to help the corporate innovator relate them to one another. In the process, it simplifies theories to a level tailored to the needs of the corporate innovator.

■ Second, the common terminology facilitates a discussion that starts with circumstances and concludes which theories to use when. In some cases, this surfaces gaps — circumstances in which no helpful theories exist. Premainstream complements existing theories with new thinking in those cases.

■ Third, because the quality of every theory is defined by its applicability in practice, but the world around us is changing, the blog chimes in on current events that can serve as evidence for or against the continued applicability of a theory.