Waiting for Disruption 2.0
In the early days of the personal computer and internet, there were those who understood the tremendous promise that was to come as technology caught up with imagination. I, on the other hand, was one of the many who found that while things were different, not much had really changed.
Viewing simple, static websites on the “Internet Superhighway” was cool, and playing those rudimentary games was fun. I still used my landline telephone to call the contact number on the website, however. At work, learning to use new computer programs was mostly exciting, but I still did basically the same job.
Today’s fascination with digital transformation and disruptive innovation feels the same way. The topics dominate virtually every business conference agenda. The companies disrupting the status quo are the darlings of the business press, but how much has really changed?
Sure, new companies have disrupted their legacy competitors, but that’s not new. Technology and change have always created new market leaders while rendering previous heroes obsolete. Only 60 of the original Fortune 500 list from 1955 were still on the list in 2017. Roughly half of the list in 1999 fell off by 2009.
The reality is that while disruptive innovation has made many things different, not that much has changed. Netflix disrupted Blockbuster, but today that basically means more immediate choices and no longer having to walk to the mailbox to retrieve a DVD. Uber and Lyft provide convenience and more control over transportation choices. They are, in the end, just another way to hire someone to drive me from point A to point B.
Likewise, artificial intelligence and big data are making the customer experience faster, easier, and in many cases friendlier than the analog days of human-driven business. Digital transformation and robotics are making product and service delivery more efficient. Both are absolutely necessary in a hyper-competitive world, and for the most part, they are simply improvements on existing business models. It’s different, but it isn’t transformational.
Truthfully, we haven’t disrupted and transformed enough. Using big data and artificial intelligence to target the ads we see feels like settling for the easy win unless we also make substantive changes to the human condition, end poverty, or figure out the algorithm for mutual respect. The healthcare system is delivering better, more efficient service to more people, but adult obesity rates continue to climb in the United States. Too many young adults lack the skills to tackle the jobs of today. What confidence is there that the education system will disrupt and transform itself to prepare students for jobs that don’t yet exist?
Fortunately, there was an Internet 2.0 that brought us to where we are today. That growth was enabled by technological advancement, but like all transformational change, it was powered by people. They were visionaries, killer code writers, and entrepreneurs that saw potential and disrupted the status quo to move us forward. Their personal brilliance aside, the lasting contribution of these pioneers was to infect countless others with the dream of what’s possible.
Dr. Clayton Christensen’s original work defined “disruptive innovation” as a very specific set of steps that companies go through to enter and ultimately dominate a market segment or industry. Today, the word is morphing to become synonymous with change on steroids.
Perhaps that is what Disruption 2.0 and the next stage of digital transformation will look like — big, dramatic, transformative efforts that take us out of our comfort zones and solve problems that change the world (or at least our part of it) rather than just make things different.
There are signs that the future is quickly approaching. Fortune writers Erika Fry and Sy Mukherjee give us a glimpse of what’s ahead in their April 2018 article “Big Data Meets Biology.” Household names such as Alphabet, Apple, Aetna, and CVS are joining a host of companies that have not yet achieved that status. They are all actively using disruptive technology to change the health of the world.
Healthcare isn’t the only place where transformative change is on the horizon. Technological advances are very close to allowing us to do virtually anything we can imagine in every industry.
Disruption 2.0 isn’t about the technology, however. It isn’t only about breaking business models to dominate markets either. It’s about people pursuing big, scary ideas that transform the world not just make it different.
Visionaries, risk takers, geeks, and scientists with mad skills will likely lead the way. Everyone can play a part, however. It starts with becoming a curious, critical thinker and challenging your own status quo.
I can’t wait. Are you in?
Randy Pennington is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, and authority on helping organizations achieve positive results in a world of accelerating change. To bring Randy to your organization or event, visit www.penningtongroup.com , email info@penningtongroup.com, or call 972.980.9857.
