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Competition can make strange bedfellows.

Every CEO has one core mandate from investors – to profitably grow the company. But this is easier said than done. Why have so many undoubtedly great firms like IBM, Digital Equipment, AT&T, GM, McDonald's and Coca Cola to name just a few with such potential been unable to sustain their growth, while the likes of Apple Computer, Pepsi and Starbuck's have been able to virtually reinvent their industries?

This article, based on both primary and secondary research, walks the reader through several case studies of companies we have had personal professional experience with, and some that have been written about widely in the media.

Our findings show that “growth platforms” are a beneficial way for companies to generate sustainable, profitable growth.

These companies are just a few out of many that have discovered the power of platforms. Not in the old‐fashioned way of using similar parts to enhance their products, on the one hand covering a broad range of the market, while on the other keeping development time and cost low; but these companies are demonstrating the next generation of platform thinking, creating and acting on sustainable growth and innovation opportunities from a combination of well‐established internal capabilities and accessible external market opportunities.

By reading this article, the reader will gain insight into what a growth platform is, how to create one in their own organization, and what other companies' growth platforms look like, and how they bring about real sustainable growth through innovation.

This chapter explores the unique role of leadership in organizational innovation. Drawing from the investment theory of creativity (Sternberg & Lubart, 1995), we show that organizational innovation begins with a leadership decision. Based on a review of the creativity, organizational, and leadership literatures, the key components of organizational innovation are examined from individual, group, and organization-wide perspectives. Leading innovation is conceptualized as a special case of leading organizational change, which requires creative leadership skills applied to social systems. Establishing an organizational environment that supports innovation in the current market environment increases systemic paradoxes that must be managed by leaders. We conclude that leading innovation increases the creative demand on the leadership system, which requires leaders who have a developed understanding of the process of innovation and its environmental requirements.