In the New Year: Will You Be Brave Enough to Disrupt Yourself?
Disruption is a scary thing. We have all felt the effects of true disruption to our lives over the past two years. It goes beyond simple change, disruption implies something bigger than change. It can feel like you have to start over. That is not always the case. Disruption, like change, can come in many forms. I would say that all disruption is change, but not all change is disruption. In business, the need to change is an ongoing thing, but the idea of disrupting your business is something more.
Here’s the catch: in our environment, if you do not disrupt yourself, someone else will. Amazon has famously disrupted the entire shopping experience, and they continue to do so in many ways and areas. Technology and progress have also been the impetus to disrupting the current models. The invention of the car disrupted the horse-trading business. The TV disrupted the radio business. And in the 1970s, the world's largest film manufacturer, Kodak, had an opportunity to disrupt that business, but chose not to disrupt themselves. Instead, others did it for them.
The story of Kodak is just one example of what has happened to so many others. In this case though, Kodak had a real chance to lead the way; instead, they selected the status quo over progress for fear of what it would do to their business. Believe it or not, Kodak developed the technology for digital photography well ahead of its large-scale introduction to the market. They did not pursue it for fear of cannibalizing their huge roll film business. Here is a summary of their story. The below account comes from petapixel.com, written by Michael Zhang.
In 1975, a 24-year-old engineer named Steven Sasson invented digital photography while working at Eastman Kodak by creating the world’s first digital camera. Kodak wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the industry-changing breakthrough.
The 8-pound camera that Sasson put together shot 0.01-megapixel black-and-white photos and recorded them to cassette tapes. Each photo took 23 seconds to create, and the only way to view the photos was to read the data from the tape and display it onto a standard television screen.
Sasson showed the new technology to a number of Kodak executives, but they couldn’t see the potential of what digital photography could become. This was their reaction, as told by Sasson to the New York Times:
They were convinced that no one would ever want to look at their pictures on a television set. Print had been with us for over 100 years, no one was complaining about prints, they were very inexpensive, and so why would anyone want to look at their picture on a television set?
At the time, Kodak was the dominant brand in the US photo industry, and Kodak didn’t want to cannibalize its film businesses. Kodak eventually did make the big switch to digital… a mere 18 years later.
Eastman Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
Kodak’s decision not to make that change and reinvent their business model cost them everything. After years of slow decline, Kodak ceased to exist as we all once knew it.
This isn’t just a company level opportunity. The opportunity to change and disrupt is available on the personal level. We each have a decision to make about whether we need to disrupt ourselves in a way that allows for sweeping changes and new opportunities to be fully realized.
Are you willing to disrupt yourself to be more relevant for a changing future?
What is your Kodak moment, and I don’t mean a great picture?
Are there things you do today, that maybe you have been doing for a very long time, that you know that you should embrace a change on?
The beginning of the year may seem like a natural time, and certainly, it can be a part of your goal planning and refinement process. But do not let that be another barrier to your change. That is an easy excuse to make by telling yourself, “I’ll just make this big change at the start of next year since I missed it this year.” Don’t fall into that trap. The best day to make a change that you know needs to happen is today.
Be brutally honest with yourself. What friction points do you continue to run into that cause you or people around you problems? What have you been doing for years that, in your heart, you know you need to change? Identify the opportunities.
Ask others. In addition to doing your own self exploration and review, ask peers, business partners, and trusted advisors where your blind spots may be. What do they see you doing that is outdated, unproductive, and even a barrier to your own or others success? You may be surprised by what they tell you. Embrace the feedback, and assume, at least initially, that everything they say is true. Don’t be defensive. If you trust them enough to ask the question, believe in them enough to know they have your best interests in mind.
List the changes you need to make and build a transition You may already have some ideas that will get you started. Someone had already invented new technology at Kodak, they just never acted on it for fear of what it would do to their existing business. Don’t let that be your fate as well. Define what changes you will need to make. Then begin to build a plan for how you will make those changes. If Kodak had embraced the idea, they wouldn’t have thrown the old business out one day and started with the new idea the next. They would have had a plan to make a transition. You should do the same.
Change is hard. I have said that many times before. Disruption can seem excruciating. The idea of it is likely harder than actually making it happen. It may be the necessary thing to do in an ever-changing world that expects more, or at least different, from what already exists. It will take courage, it will require discipline, it demands honesty with yourself, but disruption can be a good thing. Reinvention is a rebirth, full of opportunities and potential. Will you be brave enough to disrupt yourself?
How will you determine whether you need to disrupt your current self?
Additional Reading: If you want additional insights into the Kodak story and thoughts on decision-making and disruption, this Forbes article is a worthwhile read.
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