Coming Fall 2026
TheFrontier Expander
Why some companies and careers pull away—and what the best leaders do differently.
In every market, a few companies do more than outperform—they redefine what is possible. The same is true of careers: some keep compounding long after others plateau. Written from the chair of a sitting public-company CEO, this book explains why—and what to do about it.
The Big Idea
A company is a theory.The market is the experiment.
At its core, a company is a claim about who the customer is, what problem matters, how value will be created, and—most important—why this company can win where others cannot. The market tests that theory in public, continuously, and grades without mercy.
Strategy is not reality. Strategy is a theory about reality.
The remarkable thing is not that companies fail. It is that a small number repeatedly escape the fate that overtakes almost everyone else. The same is true of careers. The Frontier Expander explains the forces that decide which is which—and the rare kind of leader who bends those forces in their favor.
What’s Inside
The forces that decide who pulls away
The most expensive mistakes in business are made by capable, well-funded people who are certain about the future—and turn out to be wrong.
The Problem
Stagnation is usually a distinctiveness problem
Execution matters. But perfect execution of an undistinguished theory still leaves a company competing on the same curve as everyone else.
Performance is power-law distributed
Rewards concentrate among a surprisingly small number of companies, careers, and ideas. Average is a crowded place.
Creative destruction is real—and accelerating
Every advantage is under attack from the moment it starts working. A new theory need only be better than the one it replaces.
Pareto frontiers keep companies stuck
Most organizations trade off along the same curve—while a few redraw the curve entirely.
Diminishing returns are relentless
Growth gets harder as organizations become larger and more successful. What got you here will not get you there.
Part Three · The Leader
A new leadership archetype for the AI era
The leaders who repeatedly discover new sources of value before existing ones disappear share five meta-skills. Together, they form the Frontier Expander.
Creative & Strategic Ideation
Seeing patterns, opportunities, and possibilities long before they become obvious—the engine of cognition.
Opportunity Commercialization
Converting insight into organizations, products, and revenue. Ideas are cheap; conversion is rare.
Elite Talent Curation
Attracting and developing the small number of people who bend the curve—because power laws apply to talent, too.
Elegantly Simple Process Engineering
Building systems that scale without collapsing into bureaucracy. Complexity is a tax; elegance compounds.
Professional Threshold Power
The stamina to see it through when uncertainty, resistance, setbacks, and doubt would stop everyone else.
About the Author
Karl McDonnell
A practitioner’s account of how leaders build organizations that keep finding new frontiers.
Karl McDonnell is President and Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Education, Inc., a publicly traded education company. He joined the company as Chief Operating Officer in 2006, joined its board in 2011, and became CEO in 2013.
Earlier in his career, Karl served as Chief Operating Officer of InteliStaf Healthcare, as a vice president in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs, and in senior management roles at Fortune 100 companies including The Walt Disney Company.
Written for executives, rising leaders, founders, and investors. If you have ever asked, “What is truly distinctive about us?” this book was written for you.
Arriving Fall 2026
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