Disruption Is For Dingbats

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge
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​Disrupt!

It seems like one can't make it through the day without running into this meme.

Disrupt this!
Disrupt that!

Frankly, I've had enough with the Disrupt This and Disrupt That... meme and the Silicon Valley Cheerleader section.

Exactly what value does disruption for the sake of disruption actually provide? Certainly there are some historical cases which can be made for that but when we are talking in a fawning manner about disruption in the same breath with "Tech Startups", Uber and Airbnb we aren't talking about "disruption"  at all.

No?

No.

What we are talking about is breaking through, smashing, destroying or even side-stepping organizational and regulatory roadblocks which most often take the form of (a) regulatory capture and (b) rent-seeking behaviors.

It's that simple.

As I've written before, Uber and Airbnb are not "tech startups" in the true sense of the word because although they use some modern technology it's nothing earth shattering, in fact, it's probably a lot less tech than what is used currently at Walmart let alone Amazon. If you doubt that, read up on Walmart and its use of technology, particularly in the evolution of its supply chain management over the decades. 

If an entrepreneur or company really wants to generate strong revenues or impact people's lives or improve their performance what they need to do is identify understand and then either unlock, sidestep, smash, destroy or break through the organizational and regulatory roadblocks and blood cots of a particular group, organization or society.

That's what matters.

That's what you should be aiming for. 
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Because Disruption is not just Dead. It's for Dingbats.