Innovation and disruption are in reality two sides of the same
coin (or Bitcoin, if you will). On one side, innovation may
describe the driver of change, the creative thinking and ideas that
lead to new technology, new methodologies and new approaches. On
the other side, the by-product or necessary consequence of
innovation is change to the status quo, the uprooting of
traditional models and incumbents and the disruption of markets.
And so in one sense, the much hyped concept of "disruptive
innovation" might be seen as no more than a descriptor of
human advancement. But there is a reason the expression has become
the catchphrase of this generation of tech-savvy organisations; and
that is because organisations are seeing disruption not merely as
the consequence, but as itself a driver of innovation. Where
markets can be disrupted, there is opportunity; and so
organisations these days are quite proudly identifying themselves
as disruptors as much as they are innovators.
