The Cult Of Disruption
And how to deal with it when it comes for you
In 1996 (yes, I’m digging that far into my past) the IRA planted a bomb in the city center of Manchester, England. It was a Saturday, and I was just outside the central shopping district doing my second, part-time job.
At 11.17am, I heard a loud bang. The largest peacetime bomb ever to go off in the United Kingdom had exploded in the heart of the busy shopping center.
Unknown to me at the time, the building I worked in during the week (my full-time job) was catastrophically damaged, and some of the people I worked with were in the building. The people I knew well suffered only minor injuries, others weren’t so lucky but, thankfully, no-one died that day.
I was 22 and about to get my first lesson in disruption in the workplace, including how it can affect people and business, for good and ill.
The rush to disrupt markets
You can’t get far into the business news without reading a glowing assessment of a ‘disruptive’ technology or firm. It’s become the holy grail of tech firms — every Next Big Thing needs a disruptive angle to open the pockets of VC’s.
For people looking to build a business and make money, disruption is great.
