New developments are fueling a relentless cycle of tech innovation. Through customer tracking, Amazon can make irresistible offers on bundled merchandise—and deliver products rapidly to your door. Marketing automation harvests consumer data that allows web retailers to offer individual pricing options designed to spur purchases. With a smartphone in the pocket or purse, shopping anonymity is becoming a thing of the past. Use disruption to drive innovation So how does enterprise thrive and survive in a volatile, rapidly changing marketplace? At least two things are key—disruption and speed. The cost of disruption is falling fast. While it used to cost millions to get a new product to market, today, two entrepreneurs working in a garage could create the next unicorn start-up. To survive—enterprise must adapt, often by disruption. Earlier Mr. Congdon talked about the power of the open organization to cultivate innovation and drive change. While disrupting your company is difficult, changing company culture drives needed change. Here are some questions to consider:
- What is your vision, who are the disruptors, and what are your people doing to get to the next thing? Even if you have experts on the industry side, you need experts on the information side to visualize potential movement through new tech where appropriate.
- Will your culture get you where you need to be? Do your people, mission, and strategy align? If not, how can you adjust?
- How can you do it faster?
- What is your next disruptive investment? Within individual, team, enterprise, or industry—how can you make it happen?
Disruption is not just for industry anymore. It is for the individual, the workforce, and company culture. Engage disruption to innovate, develop institutional resilience—and get to market faster.