Disruptive Innovation

Change is inevitable. Oftentimes, change is met with levels of apprehension, aggression, and an adherence to the old. Change is uncomfortable and people often dislike proceeding with it. Disruptive innovation is a type of change but is more like “change 2.0.” Disruptive innovation is when a change agent is able to improve the viability and availability of an improvement/change in order to lead to its widespread acceptance. Furthermore, using disruptive innovation speeds along the antiquating of the old – such that the new change is competing only against itself.

Disruptive innovation comes about when the change agent improves the availability, the magnitude, the reliability, etc. of the new. The new becomes not only desirable but logical. This weakens the viability and the appeal of the old. The new is no longer fighting the old; rather, the new is the logical alternative, the next step in the evolution of whatever process or technology is occurring.

My organization puts high value in having excellent foresight and we understand that the most successful companies change as the times around them change. Many once-successful companies that later fail often lose their competitive advantage because they refused to embrace change – e.g., Sears, Kodak, Xerox, etc. In many organizations, changes are initiated without ironing out all the hiccups. Rather than making the new option easy to use, many innovators end up complicating the transition. The new becomes a hassle versus the logical alternative.

I love when an organization is very open to change and even welcomes it. That being said, as I mentioned above, many organizations do not often transition the change well. In my organization, our greatest innovation opportunity comes in our process of change initiation. We would do well to embrace disruptive innovation to encourage the expediting of the change and allowing the transition to be one of choice by my coworkers versus being one of reluctant adherence to the old.