Disruptive Innovation
and Redefining What is Truly Important
Dear
Colleagues,
Introduction
As I write this
week’s Blog, there is no way to avoid or ignore our current sequestered state
of affairs.
As of the minute of
this posting (I just looked at the TV), there are now over 775,000 worldwide Corona
Virus-19 infections confirmed—with more than 37,000 deaths. In the United
States, we have over 160,000 infected individuals, and over 3,000 have died. And
these numbers are growing every day.
I’m not trying to
obsess over the figures. It’s just that there are some who still do not—or have
been told not to—believe the figures, or even the significance of this virus.
And yet, the World Health Organization received and publicized the first formal
report about the virus—and its threat—from
China on New Year’s Eve.
[CLICK
HERE for U.S. News & World Report article]
Now. . . with pleas
(or mandates) to stay at home, to physically distance if we go shopping or
engage in other essential activities, and to practice “safe sequestering,” we
are all trying to wrap our emotions around this crisis. . . a crisis that is
leaving:
- Many children and adolescents confused and concerned (e.g., about their safety and future);
- Many essential workers concerned about day care and the supervision of their children—whose schools have now physically closed;
- Many stay-at-home parents, spouses, and significant others (what I am calling “Partners” in my title) overwhelmed because, for example, 24/7 childcare, home-schooling, and purchasing food and other essential items in short supply have now been added to their usual responsibilities;
- Many (now) “home-at-work” parents trying to balance a new way to work—while also supporting their at-home children, and spouses or significant others;
- Many underemployed or (potentially) unemployed workers anxious about their income and “making ends meet;” and
- Many American children, adolescents, and young through elderly adults, who were already in need, and who are now in greater need. This includes students and adults with disabilities, low income and homeless families, and others who are physically, emotionally, or situationally fragile.
In today’s Blog
message, I address these needs by, hopefully, helping people (a) identify and
work through their emotions; (b) analyze and consider how their thoughts and
beliefs are helping or hurting; and (c) discuss, choose, and demonstrate the
individual, partnership, and family interactions that “fit” their living
circumstances, and that are currently most important to growing (yes, growing)
through this crisis.
This is
accomplished by focusing on home and family, before work. . . on growth,
instead of survival or paralysis. . . on support, instead of isolation or
frustration . . . and on grace and gratitude, instead of despair.
And this is also
facilitated by connecting the theory of Disruptive Innovation to our current
“lifestyle sequestration.”
The Goal is to
encourage those reading this Blog to use the “disruptive” opportunity, prompted
by the COVID-19 crisis, to make one or more changes in our lives—on behalf of
ourselves, our children, our partners, or others in our personal and/or
professional families.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Why Disruptive Innovation is Relevant to COVID-19
In his 1997 book The
Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen, a business theorist and
management consultant—who coincidentally passed away due to complications from
cancer this past January (January 20, 2020), introduced disruptive
innovation into the world of business theory.
In short, the
theory states that a Disruptive Innovation is an innovation (think personal
computers, smartphones, flash drives)—usually developed by an entrepreneur or
someone working outside the mainstream network of industries for a specific
product—that so disrupts the existing market that it redefines, transforms, and
quickly dominates that market.
Beyond its original
applications to business and economics, disruptive innovation is now used more
generically to describe anything that disrupts and changes how a complex system
acts, interacts, or responds to a completely unique product or set of
circumstances.
_ _ _ _ _
In this latter
context, I would like to suggest that the COVID-19 virus is an innovative disruption
as it has changed our personal and professional lives already in innumerable
ways.
The question is:
Will the impact
of COVID-19 motivate us to change (i.e., innovate) in positive, proactive, and
productive ways—individually, within our families, at our (virtual) workplaces,
and across our communities?
OR
Will we resist
change—for example, because of arrogance, misinformation, selfishness, resistance,
or emotional paralysis?
_ _ _ _ _
While he was a
successful businessman, who taught for many years at Harvard Business School,
Christensen wrote ten books. For my colleagues in education, one was called Disrupting
Class (2008). It discussed the root causes of why schools struggles, and
how to overcome these struggles.
But, today, I want
to call attention to a somewhat unique article written by Christensen in
July-August 2010 in the Harvard Business Review, titled “How Will You
Measure Your Life.”
[CLICK HERE to
Link to Article]
The remainder of
the Blog describes, through quotes from Christensen’s article, five
“innovations” that he might connect to the disruptive opportunities within the
current COVID-19 crisis.
- Christensen Innovation #1: If You Don’t Understand the Science, You Can’t Successfully Change the Practice.
- Christensen Innovation #2: If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, Any Road will Get You There.
- Christensen Innovation #3: Understand the Difference Between Consistency and Common Sense.
- Christensen Innovation #4: Remember the Importance of Humility.
- Christensen Innovation #5. Choose the Right Yardstick.
- Habit #1: Live in the present moment.
- Habit #2: Focus on one thing.
- Habit #3: Make changes today, not tomorrow.
- Habit #4: Be of service to others.
- Habit #5: Practice.
In the end, the final
question is, “What action are you prepared to take now?” Address one of the
present needs discussed in this Blog. Prioritize and focus on one at a time.
Start today so that you can positively impact others. And, plan and practice your
steps. . . and make them a reality.
What do you think?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Virtual Study Groups Now Forming
While I, too, am
working from home, please know that I am always happy to hear from you. . .
feedback, critique, questions, and needs.
In addition, I am
in the process of putting together a monthly, virtual Study Group of
administrators who are interested in exploring how to put some of the ideas in
this Blog into action. . . both now as their schools go virtual, and for
the future when their schools reconvene in a more physical and “traditional”
way.
I am also putting
together a monthly, virtual Study Group of school psychologists who want
to expand their roles to include facilitating systems-level change and
consultation processes.
If you are
interested in either of these groups, please contact me immediately via
e-mail: knoffprojectachieve@earthlink.net
.
_ _ _ _ _
Finally, to those
of you who have become “first responders” for your students, I simply want to
say, “THANK YOU.”
I am fully aware of
the efforts you are making on behalf of your students, families, and community.
They are not going unnoticed.
Be safe everyone!
Think about the opportunities that this challenge presents to us.
Best,
