Name: Control your disruption: How can you innovate better?
Uploaded: 2023-10-02T14:58:36.268Z
Duration: 230.36
Description: Luke Williams, Professor of Innovation, NYU’s Stern School of Business, shares his understanding of disruption, the key challenges everyone faces, and how to stay on top of innovation.

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FinovateFall 2023

INT.007 Luke Williams.vtt

English

{{00:00:05}}
Hi, and thank you for joining us today.

{{00:00:07}}
My name is Julie Muhn.

{{00:00:08}}
I'm Senior Research Analyst at
Finovate, and we are recording

{{00:00:12}}
here at FinovateFall 2023.

{{00:00:14}}
I'm here with Luke Williams,
Professor of Innovation at

{{00:00:17}}
NYU Stern School of Business.

{{00:00:19}}
Luke, thanks so much
for talking to us today.

{{00:00:21}}
Thank you very much.

{{00:00:22}}
Pleased to be here.

{{00:00:22}}
Yeah, so let's jump right
into the conversation.

{{00:00:25}}
So to kick things off, help us
understand the nature of disruption

{{00:00:29}}
and how businesses can embrace change.

{{00:00:32}}
Yeah.

{{00:00:33}}
This is fascinating to me.

{{00:00:34}}
Every business, everyone in that
audience out there that is at the

{{00:00:38}}
conference faces this same dilemma.

{{00:00:40}}
And there's different metaphors for
this, but one of them is how do you

{{00:00:43}}
change the engines on an airplane when
it's in midair, which means how do you

{{00:00:47}}
keep your existing business running?

{{00:00:50}}
So you're under pressure to do that.

{{00:00:51}}
But at the same time, how do you
build the capabilities you'll need

{{00:00:54}}
to be competitive in the future?

{{00:00:55}}
Now the problem becomes, those
capabilities that you might need to

{{00:00:58}}
be competitive in the future might
be inconsistent or in direct conflict

{{00:01:02}}
with what's making you successful now.

{{00:01:04}}
So that's the whole point of disruption.

{{00:01:05}}
You've got to disrupt yourself
before somebody else does it for you.

{{00:01:09}}
Yeah.

{{00:01:10}}
Great.

{{00:01:11}}
How, can you control
disruption, like you said?

{{00:01:13}}
Can you control it, for example, like
when introducing new innovations into your

{{00:01:17}}
own organizations or your team processes?

{{00:01:19}}
So I, yes.

{{00:01:21}}
One of the things that all managers
and leaders need to know is

{{00:01:25}}
it's not just their job to keep
the existing business running.

{{00:01:28}}
That's what we call growth through
continuity, like incrementally getting

{{00:01:31}}
better at what you're doing, but at the
same time they have to be introducing

{{00:01:36}}
discontinuity, meaning ideas that wouldn't
naturally arise out of the core business.

{{00:01:40}}
Those ideas might might even
threaten the core business and

{{00:01:44}}
it's essential they do that.

{{00:01:46}}
But the way you control it is by having
a conversation around those disruptive

{{00:01:50}}
ideas versus what you're currently doing.

{{00:01:52}}
It should never be a criticism
of the existing system.

{{00:01:55}}
You're just putting one new idea
up against an old idea to compare

{{00:01:59}}
and contrast the differences.

{{00:02:00}}
Yeah.

{{00:02:01}}


{{00:02:02}}
So, obviously change is happening now at a
faster momentum, a faster pace than ever.

{{00:02:07}}
How can you avoid change fatigue?

{{00:02:11}}
Yeah, I like to move the
conversation away from change.

{{00:02:14}}
So what I tell my students, my clients,
It's that you're under no obligation

{{00:02:18}}
to implement any disruptive idea that
you hear, but the essential thing is

{{00:02:23}}
that you're having the conversation.

{{00:02:25}}
So I rather I, shift it and say,
you're not changing the company,

{{00:02:29}}
you're changing the conversation.

{{00:02:31}}
So these ideas should introduce
new ways of talking to each other

{{00:02:35}}
and that's what you want to do.

{{00:02:36}}
And as soon as you do that,
everyone goes, Oh, okay.

{{00:02:39}}
We don't have to upset the core business
where we don't have to blow everything up.

{{00:02:43}}
We're just changing the conversation.

{{00:02:45}}
So that's what I get them focused on.

{{00:02:47}}
So we have time for
one last question here.

{{00:02:50}}
Tell us some of the key messages
that you'd like to leave with our

{{00:02:54}}
audience here at FinovateFall.

{{00:02:58}}
I would like people to think about
innovation, not in terms of technology.

{{00:03:02}}
I think you can innovate anything.

{{00:03:05}}
Everybody has to manage products.

{{00:03:08}}
They're managing change initiatives
in their organization, they're

{{00:03:13}}
managing plans, but what they're
really managing along with that

{{00:03:18}}
is, they're not just developing
products, they're developing mindsets.

{{00:03:21}}
They're not just changing a company,
they're changing a conversation.

{{00:03:25}}
And they're not just making plans,
they're actually providing the space for

{{00:03:30}}
sort of possibilities and new ideas to
So they're the, main three key messages

{{00:03:36}}
for anyone who considers themselves a
change maker or has to manage change.

{{00:03:40}}
Great.

{{00:03:41}}
All right.

{{00:03:42}}
We'll leave it there.

{{00:03:42}}
Luke.

{{00:03:43}}
Thank you so much.

{{00:03:44}}
And thank you for joining us.

I'm Senior Research Analyst at
Finovate, and we are recording

I'm here with Luke Williams,
Professor of Innovation at

Luke, thanks so much
for talking to us today.

Yeah, so let's jump right
into the conversation.

So to kick things off, help us
understand the nature of disruption

Every business, everyone in that
audience out there that is at the

And there's different metaphors for
this, but one of them is how do you

change the engines on an airplane when
it's in midair, which means how do you

But at the same time, how do you
build the capabilities you'll need

Now the problem becomes, those
capabilities that you might need to

be competitive in the future might
be inconsistent or in direct conflict

You've got to disrupt yourself
before somebody else does it for you.

How, can you control
disruption, like you said?

Can you control it, for example, like
when introducing new innovations into your

own organizations or your team processes?

One of the things that all managers
and leaders need to know is

it's not just their job to keep
the existing business running.

That's what we call growth through
continuity, like incrementally getting

better at what you're doing, but at the
same time they have to be introducing

discontinuity, meaning ideas that wouldn't
naturally arise out of the core business.

Those ideas might might even
threaten the core business and

But the way you control it is by having
a conversation around those disruptive

ideas versus what you're currently doing.

It should never be a criticism
of the existing system.

You're just putting one new idea
up against an old idea to compare

So, obviously change is happening now at a
faster momentum, a faster pace than ever.

Yeah, I like to move the
conversation away from change.

So what I tell my students, my clients,
It's that you're under no obligation

to implement any disruptive idea that
you hear, but the essential thing is

So I rather I, shift it and say,
you're not changing the company,

So these ideas should introduce
new ways of talking to each other

And as soon as you do that,
everyone goes, Oh, okay.

We don't have to upset the core business
where we don't have to blow everything up.

So we have time for
one last question here.

Tell us some of the key messages
that you'd like to leave with our

I would like people to think about
innovation, not in terms of technology.

They're managing change initiatives
in their organization, they're

managing plans, but what they're
really managing along with that

is, they're not just developing
products, they're developing mindsets.

They're not just changing a company,
they're changing a conversation.

And they're not just making plans,
they're actually providing the space for

sort of possibilities and new ideas to
So they're the, main three key messages

for anyone who considers themselves a
change maker or has to manage change.

FinovateFall

Best Practice

Luke Williams, Professor of Innovation, NYU’s Stern School of Business, shares his understanding of disruption, the key challenges everyone faces, and how to stay on top of innovation.