Do you have to be crazy to be disruptive?

Not long after Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the iconic “The Crazy Ones” commercial aired as part of the larger Think Different campaign. This is a variation of that commercial that never aired, with Steve Jobs himself narrating.

 Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

But, do you have to be crazy to be disruptive?  Can disruption be systematic and planned, strategized and organized?  Are the elements of disruptive innovation well enough known to be written down and followed, like a recipe for an omelet?

Where is the middle ground between planned innovation and crazy innovation that can lead to disruptive innovation at a frequency greater than chance?  Does disruptive innovation require the type of person described by Steve Jobs in the above quote, or can a person with the ability to understand and define technology trends have the insight that recognizes when some of those trends, when integrated, provides an opportunity to do something no one has done before and create a disruptive innovation?

I would like to think the latter is true and not everyone who creates disruptive innovations has to be crazy.  What do you think?

What YOU can do to be disruptive

No, I don't mean be disruptive in behavior, but in creating disruptive innovation in your work environment.  Mike Brown blogs about taking the NO out of inNOvation. He posits that there are ten things that block innovation irrespective of business culture.  In each of these areas he suggests change management steps and actions that an individual can take to mitigate those hindrances.  Many of those steps reference further details in past blogs he has written that address those issues.

As he says, not all ten challenges to innovation are present in any business, but just a few of them are effective in reducing innovation.  Here are the ten challenges he lists:

1. NO Knack for Disruptive Innovation 
2. NO Direction 
3. NO Rocking the Boat 
4. NO Talent Pool
5.There’s NO Tomorrow 
6. NO Resources 
7. NO Motivation to Innovate 
8. NO Process 
9. NO Implementation Success 
10. NO Measures

Disruptive innovation can be disruptive to an organizational culture and many businesses do not handle disruption well, putting in place processes and procedures to minimize disruption.  Many perceive disruptive innovation as a threat to their position and authority and actively work to minimize disruption. 

But, every organization needs someone to work against these forces until it is recognized that disruptive innovation is necessary for survival in today's dynamic environment.

Tell me what you do to encourage innovation in your environment. 

Disruptive Process Improvement and Innovation

So, in my last blog I ask the question: Can process improvement be disruptive? I have found several blogs and articles that suggest a positive answer. Craig Reid suggests innovation is the forgotten man of process improvement. By adopting systematic process improvement methods and starting from a clean sheet of paper one can create innovative processes, products, and services. Ben Nneji wrote

" Everett Rogers, in his book, "Diffusion of Innovations," defines innovation as "an idea, practice or object that is perceived as new by an individual" or whoever else would use, consume or adopt the innovation. While process improvement focuses on improving an existing idea, practice or object, innovation focuses on "newness." But they both focus on bringing desirable change."

 To implement both process improvement and innovation you must be disruptive and grow a culture of disruption.  Process improvement helps reduce inefficiencies (Lean), reduce defects (Six Sigma) and ensures that you do the right thing - Customer Experience Management (CEM).  Innovation helps you look beyond your current customer base and technology focus to be award of what is happening around you.

Can Process Improvement be Disruptive?

A number of articles I have read recently say that it is difficult, or impossible, to develop disruptive innovations in an existing company or organization.  See here for an example from a blog post.  Suggestions are to separate them from an ongoing business to isolate them from the pressures of meeting operational goals, such as revenue, profit, etc.  So, they reinforce the idea that innovation must occur in a new company or isolated in an existing company.

But, what about continuous improvement, such as those encouraged by the Malcolm Baldridge award?  As a Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE) I would think that process improvement would lead to the potential of developing disruptive innovations.  If anyone has seen any research or articles that address this, please let me know.

Process improvement, if properly addressing all aspects of the process and resulting products/services, would take into account innovations that are new and have potential to affect what the company is currently doing.  If cost reduction, then addressing all areas that could result in cost reduction might lead to a disrupting innovation that made them a market leader.  Sane with almost any characteristic of either the process or the result of executing that process.

What do you think?  Is it possible to develop disruptive innovations through process improvment? 

Top 7 Disruptive Personal Media Trends for 2013

Innovation Labs published their analysis of the top personal media trends that they believe will be disruptive to business in 2013.  They list the following:

1. Responsive web design is becoming a strategic must-have
2. Mobile data encryption: growing exponentially in importance
3. Mobile video is fast becoming mass consumer phenomenon
4. Every organisation will need a UX Designer
5. The ‘Internet of Things’ is merging the digital world with the physical world
6. Mobility is the top priority as a driver of transformational change for CEOs
7. iOS and Android continue to dominate in a fast moving ecosystem, with app stability becoming a major issue

Individually I don't think many of these are or will be disruptive.  Taken as a whole as characteristics of mobility they play a role in the disruptive innovation of mobility.  People do not want to be tied to any one place to do their work, enjoy their entertainment, or connect to their friends.  Any business must address the issue of how they deliver the services and products in a mobile society, and this will change many things.

Examples of how things are already impacted are reports you see in the news about Best Buy being a showroom for on-line ordering - but not necessarily from Best Buy.  Mobility has also changed the delivery business since what you order on-line from your mobile phone has to be delivered.  Stores like Walmart are offering instant pickup of orders placed on-line, or even delivered to your home.  All these are disruptive changes in the market place.

But, I think the Internet of Things (IoT) is probably the most disruptive of all, and we are just now beginning to see the effects.

Are Tablets Disruptive to the PC?

The Wall Street Journal today published an article that indicates that Gartner sees a structural shift in the PC market.  This is based on the drop in PC sells by 6% for 2012.  While PCs are not being left in the dust, the tablet appears to be the gift of choice for this past Christmas gift giving season.

I see coworkers carrying around tablets to meetings instead of laptops.  I have a tablet that I use for various things, but it doesn't replace my PC.  For me there are several reasons the PC will continue to be in my life - complex graphics and virtual reality video games - all of which require the power of a PC and graphics card.

At work, the table may be disruptive to the PC as most companies work from a server based infrastructure, so email, etc., are all kept on a server, and not on a laptop.  In the future, the cloud (a server in the sky) will do the same thing.  For my tablet to become really usable at home, I will have to move to a cloud environment, otherwise if I read my email on the table, I have to either save it there, or read it again on my PC and save it there.  Or both, and then I need to sync both systems.

So, are tablets disruptive?  Not yet, in my opinion, but they may become so.  The trends in storage, power included in the tablet, and communications speed in wireless capability, even in the home, all will merge to make it disruptive.

Characterisits of Disruptive Innovation

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University recently published (Fall of 2012) an article: "Mastering the art of disruptive innovation in journalism" by Clayton M. Christensen, David Skok, and James Allworth.  Christensen had developed a theory of disruptive innovation to explain how businesses grow, become successful, and then falter as startups take away their customers.  This has been demonstrated in multiple industries, and this article applies it to the field of journalism.  

But in this study they propose that disruption comes about because of the job the service or product allows one to do.  They suggest that you need to ask three questions to identify that job:

• What is the job audiences want done?
• What kinds of employees and structure does the company need so it can fulfill that job-to-be-done?
• What is the best way to deliver that information to audiences?

As markets and products are disrupted, they are replaced with markets and products that do the job better.  How does one move from providing a solutions one way to providing the same solution in a better and different way? A way that replaces the old way? A disruptive way?  This article suggest that there are three things one needs to examine: resources (or capabilities), processes, and priorities.  All of these are difficult to change as they are part of the culture of the company.  New ways often need to be done by new people, new processes, and new priorities that are separate from the old ones.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicates that magazines add pages dropped 8.2% in 2012 and 32% since 1908.  This illustrates the problem of old media be supplanted by the new media.

One area that they don't address which I believe is critical is the technology trends that cross and merge to make these new ways of doing things possible.