THE ART OF MANAGING DISRUPTION

The single biggest fear that business leaders face is that of disruption. Bill Gates used to say that there is a company in some garage somewhere that will displace Microsoft. The fear Gates articulated is a real fear among every business leader out there.

Why is it hard to manage disruption?

I have been passionate about disruption for over 20 years; I spent a long time studying it. The fact is that disruptive forces are difficult to tackle. The problem is not that managers and companies are not smart. The problem is much deeper.

I see three key reasons why disruption is so challenging.

1. Experience: Whatever you repeatedly do, you get better at it. Whether it is designing new hardware, launching products, or creating a strategy. However, if you do something rarely, it’s hard to become good at it.  Managers across companies lack the experience of disruption because disruption has not been pervasive. It makes them novices at handling disruptive forces. It forces them to rethink business and strategy each time they face a disruptive force. That is where a lot of mistakes take place.

2. Strategic Skills: Dealing with disruption needs strategic skills. Strategic skills allow managers to see the entire landscape and hone into the heart of the issue. They allow managers to visualize many paths forward and select the one most likely to succeed. These skills are built over time in careers and are career path dependent. Most managers do not develop these skills early on in their careers. As a result, organizations often lack enough strategic skills.

3. Lack of Education: When I went to business school 20 years back there was no course on disruption. Now, as a professor, I notice there still aren’t courses on disruption. This lack of training means the incoming managers are not equipped with disruption-management skills.

Due to these three reasons disruption management is a missing skill in organizations.

Due to these three reasons disruption management is a missing skill in organizations. Business leaders intuitively know this. These missing skills accentuate leaders’ fear of the biggest threat to their business: Disruption.

Disruption as an Opportunity

Disruption is a chance to grow for many companies because it resets the game. At the same time, it is a bonanza for managers too.

The lack of critical disruption management skills in the business world points to a significant opportunity for you.

If you can master disruption and do it fast, you can become more valuable in your organization

If you can master disruption and do it fast, you can become more valuable in your organization. You can fill a critical gap with your knowledge. As a result, you can step into roles that will determine the future of your business.

 

These skills will allow you to make a significant impact on your business and your organization. You will work on anticipating and responding to future disruptive forces.

How do you Learn Disruption Fast?

I have spent over ten years studying disruption across dozens of industries and hundreds of companies. But you don’t have to spend that much time to learn about it. I have written a short book that can serve as a guide to disruption.

I have written it with the aim of helping someone gain disruption management knowledge in around 60 minutes. With just 70 pages in the book, you should be able to get through it in around 60 minutes.

Learn The Art of Managing Disruption today

I am passionate about disruption and about teaching people about it. As a result, for a limited time, I am giving away this book for free.

You can download the book now, read it in the next few hours, and start incorporating this critical piece in your job tomorrow.

You can download this book here: www.ankushchopra.com/60-minutes/