Finding opportunity in disruption

The topic of our February roundtable, we had a few new faces this month and a whilst the hot topic continues to be the ongoing challenges in attracting and retaining talent (check out this blog if you’d like my thoughts on tackling that) we had an interesting discussion about the definition of disruption.

To paraphrase one perspective that I particularly liked “Disruption is just a word old corporates use - it doesn't actually exist”. What a fascinating concept – start-ups operate in a time of such exponential change that constant disruption is the new normal; and normal is not disruptive.

That got me thinking is it that disruption is real but not inherently good or bad. I’m beginning to wonder if the case is that as the disruptor we don’t see or feel the disruption. Seems to me that any change presents an opportunity for someone and simultaneously a threat to someone else. It’s just which side of the equation you sit on that determines your perspective.

This then begs the question – are innovation and disruption the same thing? Just two different sides of the same coin?  Personally, I don’t think so, because I believe we need to incorporate disruption analysis into our innovation processes.

What do you think? Does disruption exist? Is it the same or different from innovation? Let me know.

And while I have your attention, I’d love your ideas on an interesting topic for an upcoming roundtable; please shoot me a note. Also, if you’d like to join a future roundtable let me know, we have a waitlist!