Globe Business EIF speaker Luke Williams: Be the disruptive change

MANILA, Philippines - Disruption in the way an organization thinks and does things should be a welcome proposition, declared globally recognized expert on innovation leadership Luke Williams, who top-billed the recently concluded fourth Enterprise Innovation Forum staged by Globe Business.

The executive director of Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Williams is the author of the best-selling book “Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business.”

His dossier lists decade-long collaborations with industry leaders such as American Express, GE, Sony, Crocs, Virgin, Disney and Hewlett-Packard to develop new products, services and brands.

One of the two world-renowned keynote speakers of the event, he tackled the premise of “Disrupt: Sparking Business Transformation with Innovation,” and challenged business leaders with some of his notable quotes from the EIF outlined below:

Change starts with innovation

“As innovators, the sharing of ideas is the most important thing that you must do. This is the first place any organization has to start: breaking down the silos for these ideas to be created. And what happens when ideas are shared? The impact doesn’t just add up — it multiplies.”

“Any business, no matter what size it is, that is only embracing incremental change, is getting itself in a very dangerous position, because it is getting into a path that becomes narrower and narrower. It is inevitable that at some point, it will reach the end of this path where it cannot make any further changes to its existing products and services or business model. And by the time it reaches the end of this path, its customers have forsaken it for a new offering that nobody saw coming.”

“Nothing kills an idea faster than common sense — it is the tyranny of all new ideas. You need plenty of common sense in other parts of the process but at the start of trying to create something new, it will kill you every time.”

Disruption is good

“Sales, forecasts, customer segments, marketing plans and business strategies — these are all important skills, but increasingly less so in a world where it is exponentially harder to predict. There is far too much emphasis in today’s organization in prediction and far too little on deliberate provocation.”

“The whole job of disruptive thinking is to think about what’s normally ignored, and what’s not obvious. The best place to start is where actually nothing appears to be wrong.”

“Be the disruptive change. Be the one to take or lead your segment, category or industry in an entirely new direction. If you will commit to it, you have to let go of the notion that it will be a comfortable process. Let go of the notion that in the next couple of years that you will be happy with the way things are going, and that your most profitable customers are going to be happy.”

“A great thing about any disruptive strategy: the more unexpected your idea, the fewer the number of competitors, and the longer your lead time you have to actually start building user base, brand loyalty, momentum, and leaving the competitors scrambling to catch up.”

“Innovation at the end of the day is about the questions you ask, rather than the answers. If you’re not asking a different question at the start, the rest of the process is just going to lead to incremental innovation. The potential for reinvention is always around us at the moment. There has never been a more exciting time to be thinking about how to structure or re-structure your business, your communities or even your lives in new ways to create value. So enjoy the possibilities.”

The annual Globe Business EIF is conducted for business executives to learn ideas and strategies to maximize innovation within their organization and to stay ahead of competition and become role models in their respective industries.

For more information on how your enterprise can lead through innovation with cutting-edge products and solutions, get in touch with a Globe Business account manager at (02) 730-1010, or visit www.business.globe.com.ph.