from the deny-at-your-own-risk dept

It’s hard to think of a book more influential to business strategic thinking than Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma. If you haven’t read it (or grasped the concept), you are way behind anyone in thinking about innovation and competitive markets, especially in the technology world. I’ve talked about it in the past, and I’m sure many of you are familiar with it, or have read it, but I’m reminded of one of the key points made in the book that seems to be a key stumbling block in some of the discussions we have around here. The reminder comes from a blog post that Jay Rosen recently mentioned, talking about Christensen’s main point, in relation to the new industry, focusing mainly on why so many companies fail at innovating:

The management trap of disruptive technology is insidious because, like all good traps, it doesn’t look like one at first. It looks prudent and fits a corporate culture of conservative, data-driven management. But incumbents can’t recommend change because it would mean recommending something less profitable, less accepted, and less proven than what they’re already doing.

And that’s the trap.

Disruptors have no such inhibitions.

This is the key point, and while I’m not going to talk about what that post is actually discussing (the failure of some companies to be able to innovate due to this issue), I am going to use it to try to make a particular point, and hopefully clear up a misperception. There are two points that we’re often trying to make around here, and the problem is that those two points often get conflated.

1. What’s happening in the market is going to happen anyway.
2. The end result will actually be better for everyone, which is why it’s important to embrace the innovation

The two points are related — and, it’s actually one of the key points made in Christensen’s famous chart — but they are different points:

Read more . . .

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Tags: clayton christensen, corporate culture, dilemma, disruptive technology, Innovation, innovator, Innovator's Dilemma, misperception, risk, strategic thinking, stumbling block, technology world

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