---
id: "prereq-ecosystem-dynamics"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["¶2"]
tags: ["business-strategy"]
related: ["concept-ecosystem-acceleration", "action-align-ecosystem-stakeholders"]
reason: "The framework relies on the premise that innovation happens across 'entire ecosystems' and 'beyond organizational boundaries.'"
sources: ["tail2"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail2"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-tail-125-innovative-leader"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/05/what-makes-an-innovative-leader"
sourceTitle: "What Makes an Innovative Leader?"
---
# Familiarity with Business Ecosystems

**Why this is a prerequisite:** The framework relies on the premise that innovation happens across "entire ecosystems" and "beyond organizational boundaries."

The Bridger and Catalyst roles assume working knowledge of modern **business ecosystems** — networks of interconnected organizations, suppliers, complementors, and customers that co-evolve capabilities around a shared innovation. Without this, [[concept-ecosystem-acceleration]] and the action [[action-align-ecosystem-stakeholders]] read as abstractions. Adjacent scholarly anchors (from enrichment): open innovation, ecosystem strategy, and platform competition — the study of orchestration, complementors, and multi-actor value creation.