Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Gartner Unpacks Business Disruption

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Gartner Unpacks Business Disruption I recently had the opportunity to attend a webinar on businessdisruptionhosted by Gartner VP and Fellow Daryl Plummer. Plummer shared how to understand disruptive influences and focused on the disruptions to which we aren’t yet paying attention. According to Plummer, disruption used to come out of nowhere (i.e. the Internet), and it was isolated in pockets. In 2017, however, it’s everywhere, having massive impacts across a large area. We can’t avoid it even if we wanted to. While it’s normal to have some disruption fatigue (otherwise known as getting mentally exhausted every time you hear the word digital), mastery of digital disruption is a critical discipline for modern success. The most celebrated organizations in this decade (Amazon, Google, etc.) have done so well because they’ve created new lanes to run in. They have embraced willful disruption, which Plummer defined as deliberate and aggressive use of disruption as a differentiator for digital success. They understand that every disruption will inevitably be disrupted by something else, so they can’t rest on their laurels. Willful disruption has five types: Offensive:Innovation, or creating something no one else has thought of (Apple and the smartphone). Defensive:Competition, or recognizing that something major is happening and that we need to do something about it (Google’s involvement with Android in response to the iPhone). Serendipity:Chance, let’s get 1,000 flowers to bloom and see what develops (Twitter and its hashtag changing the face of news delivery). Destruction:Anarchistic, or destroying and replacing a market (Netflix vs. the DVD market). Self-Disruption:Reinvention andagility, coming up with something better than what you’ve already invented yourself (Apple’s transition from the iPod to the iPhone). For more on Gartners predicted disruptions, read the full post on the QuickBase Fast Track blog.