But Christensen's real disruptive impact, and true calling, is to teach. When it comes to improving the quality of the management mind, his humility is matched only by his ambition. "There just isn't anything more invigorating than to read an article or hear about an entrepreneur using the term 'disruptive technology' that makes no reference to me as the source," he says. "When it's clear they really got the idea and they use it as if it were in everyday parlance, that's the ultimate triumph. When everybody can do this, I can retire. Because I don't have any ambitions other than to change the way people think."
The Evolution of a Powerful Idea
Disruption had a uniquely late 1990s appeal. It fed the innovation fetish, revolutionary zeal, and general paranoia of the moment. But the term and the ideas behind it stretch back to 17th-century French political philosophy, or to 20th-century economics, depending on whom you ask. Here's our highly subjective and selective plotting of the original idea's rise and fall.
Austrian economist Joseph A. Schumpeter publishes Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, and describes "a process of industrial mutation . . . that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one." He calls it "creative destruction"--the mother of all disruption.
McKinsey & Co. partner Richard Foster invokes Schumpeter in Innovation: The Attacker's Advantage, and elaborates on the concept of tech- nology S-curves and the "discontinuities" that turn the cash cows of leading companies into dead meat.
The distinction between sustaining and disruptive innovation is born--in a San Jose motel room, where Clay Christensen begins puzzling over the question of failure. (Motel 6 still holds a special place in his heart.)
Geoffrey Moore puts some marketing spin on the challenges of high-tech disruptive upstarts in `1, which explores the pitfalls of migrating from enthusiastic early adopters to the indifferent mainstream.
In Disruption, a book aimed at marketers, ad exec Jean-Marie Dru dumbs down disruption to "rule- breaking," citing Apple's "Think Different" campaign as the prime exhibit. "Disruption" (pronounced with a French accent) becomes his agency's registered trademark.
Paranoia: It's a good thing! Andy Grove describes "strategic inflection points" as the signals of coming disruption, and in Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company says defensive neurosis is a crucial management strategy. In other words: Stop for lunch and you are lunch.
Christensen puts managers everywhere in a real bind with his innovator's dilemma: "The logical, competent decisions of management that are critical to the success of their companies are also the reasons why they lose their positions of leadership." The Innovator's Dilemma terrifies executives and inspires legions of would-be IPO millionaires.
Starbucks baristas overheard discussing the Kozmo.com "digital disruption." The idea has officially peaked.
Richard Foster is back with Creative Destruction: Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market. This painstakingly researched ode to Schumpeter prescribes corporate self-destruction and renewal--with rather unfortunate timing.
Execution: The Art of Getting Things Done passes the 600,000 copy mark (disruption is officially passé).
The Innovator's Solution is published. "Successful growth" is the new disruption.
Polly LaBarre (plabarre@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company contributing writer based in New York City.
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