The rub is that change is hard. Innovation and disruption force changes that most people are uncomfortable with. Change is inevitable. A crude summary of Darwin’s theory of evolution is that change is necessary for survival. How does an innovation like a selfdriving car contribute to the millions of years of evolution that gave a cheetah its speed? Only time will tell.
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By Stacy Richter
nnovation and disruption are often used in the same sentence. Innovation is sometimes disruptive and disruption is sometimes innovative. They are not always the same. Innovation is about doing things better while disruption is changing the normal course of things. Both have a way of changing how we go about our day.
Meaningful and lasting innovation can only be absorbed in bite sized pieces. Imagine a staircase that you are walking up and all the stairs are different sizes. Some are larger than others and take more energy to step up. When the step becomes too large, we will stop and wait. Some are so small that you can just skip right over and on to the next step. How we adopt innovation is very much like that staircase. We continue to climb the innovation staircase. When the innovation requires too much of a change, we will stop and refuse to adopt the innovation. If the innovation step is too small, we become uninterested and skip right over the step; on to the next. The benefits of innovative disruption have a double meaning. First, the inevitable change is meaningful and lasting when it can be adopted in bite sized pieces. Innovation evolves from one disruption to the next. The ones that stick can make dramatic improvements to the lives of people. (continued on next page) Innovation \\ 13