What makes you a disruptive person?

Introducing... The Scale of Disruption

In my previous post I explored the transformational power of disruptive behavior. In continuing the conversation, we need to look at the greater concept of innovation and how disruption is rooted in this idea. Maxwell Wessel explores the various types of innovation in his most recent HBR article: he talks about Continuous, Reverse, Sustaining, Disruptive and Platform innovation and how each type can affect a business on different levels.  A business can innovate as a cohesive market force, leaders can disrupt societal norms like we explored in the concept of liminality or consumers can drive technological advancements through a sustained demand for innovative products. Im less concerned with the ways in which 'innovators' simply capture the value that others create and make a viable business. Im more concerned with the disruptors that create fundamentally different products, processes, services or operations which uproot our mental models and influence a generation of new ideas. Its this kind of disruptive innovation that I will be most focused on during my second quarter blog. In order to classify things appropriately, Ill be using the following innovation scale:

1. Uber-Disruptive - "a major innovation is one that is so successful that soon after its introduction few people can even remember what life was like before the innovation was introduced" -Rick Miller, President Olin College of Engineering. 
2. Super-duper Disruption - An innovation that impacts a market significantly and creates a "new or fundamentally different product or service that disrupts existing markets and displaces formerly dominate technologies." (Wagner, p.10)
3. Incremental Disruption - "significantly improving existing products, processes or services"  (Wagner, p.9)
4. Copy-Cat Disruption - Businesses that successfully commoditize the innovative ideas, processes, products or services of others. 
5. Pig-lips Disruption - really not a form of innovation at all, more like putting lipstick on a pig. 

Where does disruptive behavior play out?

Now that we have a renewed sense of our topic, I want to focus on where and how disruptive behavior plays out in a business setting. My hope is that it will help us to better understand the difference between business-as-usual scenarios from truly disruptive-business formats. In their book, The White Space, Rummler & Brache lay out three interdependent areas in a systems model of an organization; the job/performer level, the process level and the organizational level. Their book examines opportunities for performance improvement and adaptation within each specific area and across all three. I'm going to use their structure as a foundation for exploring disruptive behaviors and effective innovation strategies within each arena.  

1. The Person- or Job/performance - the human dimension, people are "the vehicles through which processes function." (Rummler, p.21)
2. The Process - 'How work gets done', cross-functional work processes
3. The Organization - Strategy, organizational structure

The Person: What makes you disruptive? 

Do you consider yourself creative? Would you consider yourself 'exceptional' at any of the following? I know we've done a lot of asset mapping lately, but I encourage you to respond below and claim what your good at. 

1. Critical thinking and problem solving
2. Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
3. Agility and adaptability
4. Initiative and entrepreneurship
5. Integrative & interdisciplinary thinking
6. Empathy
7. Curiosity and imagination
8. Perseverance
9. Willingness to experiment, take calculated risks and tolerate failure
10. Optimism and enthusiasm

These are some of the essential qualities of innovators that Tony Wagner explores in this book, Creating Innovators.  An individual is a powerful source for disruptive behaviors, talents and ideas.  I love this list of characteristics because its precisely the ammunition you need when tromping through a liminal space. A person with an effective combination of the above qualities is able to think and feel effectively in challenging or new situations leading them to truly original ideas. When put into a 'liminal' place where normal limits of thought, self-understanding and behavior are relaxed, an innovator is sure to flourish instead of feeling panic. In a professional context, an individual with these qualities could potentially innovative strategies, products and processes for a thriving and disruptive business.  

Rate the 'Disruptor'!!!

An example of a sought after innovative professional is Dan Schulman, the group president of enterprise growth at American Express. A former CEO of virgin mobile and Priceline, he has a strong background in the tech industry and was brought to American Express in order to "imagine what a new future of financial services might look like." (linked article). The article describes the process by which he transitioned american express from an "exclusive" to an "inclusive" brand by teaming with Walmart to develop a financial product called Bluebird. His team essentially functions as a 'start up' within the American express company, which means they have a lot of organizational interplay. Their software platform seems to be disrupting the normal 'credit card' capabilities by allowing people to deposit or save their money in completely different ways and spend rewards points through different formats. They have over 1 million bluebird accounts and 85% of those account customers are new to AMEX. 

Disruption scale says: Incremental Disruption.  American Express has made some clear investments in new software, market segmentation, strategic partnering and developed a distinctive product with Bluebird. Undoubtably this process has taken some innovative energy on behalf of Dan, his team and the executive team at Amex. They have clearly had to collaborate to develop this product, both internally between departments and externally with stakeholders. However, it seems to be more of an improvement of an existing technology, relationships and marketing strategies rather than a true advancement. The Bluebird project aside, its clear that Dan is an innovative person and that through his creative vision, he has lead the charge for a product that is unique in its marketplace. He seems to be good at 'leveraging' positions to create new projects. However, like Bluebird, I don't think Dan is working above the level of Incremental Disruption. His work is helpful, effective and profitable but not fundamentally different. 

Disagree? Is there something fundamental that Im missing with Dan? Aside from his work with AMEX, Is there evidence that Dan has the qualities of a Super-duper disruptor? Ill let you be the judge.