Looking to disrupt your status quo? Start with these core tenets.
- Re-evaluate your purpose.
Ask yourself why you exist in business. It’s not profit or revenue — they’re simply bi-products. Define your long term purpose and mission. Why should your employees come to work? Imagine the consequences of what would happen if your business ceased to exist tomorrow.
2. Break rank.
You might be in an industry where propositions, services, products, experiences and prices are the same. You bump into new starters who always come from the same merry-go-round of competitors. Challenge your business to think differently. Be brave in rocking the boat and coming up with new products, services and experiences that turn the current market on its head. You’ll be doing everyone a favour.
3. Compete against yourself.
Set up internal teams whose sole purpose is to challenge the status quo. Task them with launching competitor products and services that can help your business begin the second curve of business development.
4. Think the unthinkable.
List the ‘sacred cows’ and consider how you might do things differently. Imagine your call centres being replaced by in-field customer agents. Imagine handing over customer service to customers.
5. Challenge convention.
Imagine a world where commuters commuting into London can travel without having to navigate the complexity of off peak, super saver and peak fares. Imagine a world where digital railways mean customers pay the same price at any time of day with rolling stock simply better managed to meet demand. Imagine a loyalty scheme that rewards behaviours and not spend.
6. Expose and eradicate harmful beliefs and assumptions.
Remember the world of Napster and Spotify. The feeling was that consumers would never again pay for music once pirated music was mainstream. The reality is that consumers were happy to pay and today fill the coffers of Spotify, Tidal and Apple. Think of those who predicted the end of books only for e-books to plateau with readers still loving the feel of a real book. If you’re in Seattle visit the new Amazon bookstore. Identify the false beliefs your company has and take them out.
7. Think earthquake.
You exist in market where changes are mere tweaks of the status quo. Take the mortgage market for example. The mortgage process is standard, harmonised, regulated and cumbersome. Collaborate with competitors, regulators and government to re-design for the better of society.
8. Scenario plan.
Anticipate disaster and opportunity. Imagine how you might handle or benefit from a crisis. Take the government’s recent changes on pensions and how major financial institutions will have to adapt and react. Imagine you sell managed motorway technology and the government announces the M6 will only be for driverless cars by 2022.
9. Adopt full co-creation.
Stop relying on surveys and bring your customers inside. Don’t just invite them to focus groups or user experience card sorting exercises. Bring them in from the very beginning and involve them in all decision making.
10. Act and think like a regulator.
Regulators are there because your industry cannot be trusted to put the customers at the heart of what you do. Bring lobby groups and regulator thinking inside your organisation. How could they help disrupt. Imagine a world where BP decides against artic drilling only to invest 100% of it’s money in renewable technology. Imagine a telecommunications company that leapfrogs the European Commission only to remove all global roaming tariffs or works with competitors to create a European wide common market.
11. Internal revolution.
Consider radical internal change. Imagine moving from a hierarchy to holacracy business model. Envisage a move from waterfall to agile planning. Imagine giving your employees equal voting rights to shareholders. Imagine leaving the stock market to become a mutual or cooperative.
12. Experimental employees.
Give your employees time to work on other things. Allow them to seek expertise from other parts of the business. Give them the opportunity to self organise for challenges and tasks. Empower them to experiment with new ideas. Give them time to pitch ideas to senior leaders.
13. Seek outside advice and help.
Connect with famous thought leaders. If you’re working on a design project ask what John Meada would do. If you’re launching a new airline in-flight experience, ask what Alain de Botton would focus on.
14. Self-sacrifice.
Have you spotted a competitor delivering your vision in a better way? Do you think your business has something that could help them? Consider collaborating with them or even propose a merger.
These are just a few that will help those of you looking to disrupt your own company, industry or category. Good luck.
