Consequential Disruption
Why Global Disruption is not enough. We Need to Disrupt MEANINGFULLY! Why?
As you know, I have been a strong advocate of disruption leading to innovation from the 1st day of my career post graduate school (Mathematics) at BBN (Bolt Beranek & Newman) in Cambridge. We invented things that did not exist and in as such disrupted 24×7. The first decade of my career was amazing. We had no barriers as often we had to define the possibilities and limits in the new products we introduced to the market. You can read more about this in my bio.
During the second phase of my career, when I founded Connecterra in Cambridge, the disruption was to replace bar codes with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). With passive RFID, we redefined logistics, supply chain, analytics, big data and much more and the internet of things very early in the game. Several years before introducing our products to the market, we had to create the market, the enthusiasm, acceptance and most importantly, the supporting ecosystem for our software to thrive in. To do so also required that we form the standards consortium to enable the ecosystem to thrive. We did so, and along with MIT (AutoID Center) and P&G started the first standards consortium, which today is called EPCGlobal and has over 3000 member companies globally.
Key Point: Simply developing the coolest thing (platform, device, software, hardware, app or other) is not sufficient means to succeed in disruption. In my RFID Startups’s case, we needed to make sure consumers were educated AND understood the value of RFID. If you had to recall pharmaceuticals, food or other hazardous items, or track where your package is accurately (anywhere in the world), you could do so instantly via our RFID enabled software and platform. Consumers need to UNDERSTAND the value of the offering and want to start UTILIZING the functionality at scale. This creates a thriving ecosystem where everyone benefits. In our case, global package and shipping companies hugely benefited from our offerings, so did everyone in the logistics chain as well as the consumer. A mindful ecosystem needs to be built. Innovative disruption isn’t about the coolness of the technology.
Since selling my company to Oracle, I have been working with large companies to disrupt and innovate meaningfully. ProVoke discusses the necessity of global disruption in order to innovate. Note the focus on “global and disruption”! Disruption is not happening only in Silicon Valley and innovation is occurring all over the globe. We need to change our Valley-Centric mindset. As an investor in Asia, India, Europe and the US, I can tell you that I see things happening everyday around the world, which makes me stop, smile, gasp for air and go “WOW!”
So, what have I learned in my global journey of disruption and innovation? Quite a lot (and learning more each day). I expect to do an extended piece on this at the Washington Post this fall, however, let me share 3 key insights:
1. We need to first MINDFULLY create a market for the disruption we are going to introduce. This needs to be done far in advance of introducing the disruption and innovation. We can introduce a gadget or device that is fantastic but unless the market is prepared ahead of time and excited about it with mindful (consequential) outcomes expected, instead of being a game-changer, it will be just a gadget. A gadget has a limited life span and does not change the game. We can all think of the many cool things we thought would change the world but they did not! These are the gadgets we put away in our drawers.
2. We need to be bold and map out (and be disruptive and be the first ones to do so) how the new ecosystem would look like, what the parameters are and know who would be the players. We want surprising and actively engaged new players of the ecosystem which we are spearheading. Once it is a meaningful innovation, many will want to play in the sand box and it is key that the owner of the disruption and innovation lead it to success.
3. Be willing to explore new possibilities instead of playing it safe. This will massively open up the playing field.
One area which this is more palpable than any other today is the wearable and sensor arena. It turns out that there are absolutely amazing (ripe for the taking) enterprise problems and consumer needs that these new offerings (devices/sensors) can solve, help and add value to. Yet, I am often surprised to see that instead of strategically practicing the points mentioned above, these fantastic companies, simply introduce their new devices (which soon gets downgraded into a gadget- a the precursor to ‘something that I will play with and put aside’), instead of making it a key component of a critical new ecosystem and developing the value to the ecosystem and the consumer.
There are amazing use-cases which would make these new devices tremendously successful and critical players. But, first we need to disrupt and innovate mindfully with a sold plan. Instead, often these devices come and go before they are meaningfully incorporated into the ecosystem with huge consequences and miss generating the revenue which they are absolutely capable of generating.
I call this: CONSEQUENTIAL DISRUPTION AND INNOVATION…
In today’s highly complex and at times confusing CONNECTED world, there needs to be a consequential and meaningful INTENT & VALUE in connecting everything to everything. Simply being ‘connected’ is insufficient. Secondly, we need to be equally mindful about big data and analytics. What are we connecting to what, what data are we collecting, for what purpose and value? A segment which I am calling ‘cognitive data driven analytics’ which I am working on with colleagues at MIT is coming soon. We need to disrupt and innovate mindfully.
Let’s continue this critical conversation. Would love to hear your thought. Imagine the possibilities once we change the playing rules…