Cambridge Business Association
The 11 Sources of Disruption Every Company Must Monitor
Article

The 11 Sources of Disruption Every Company Must Monitor

Think you’re aware of the forces that might disrupt your company? Your lens may be far too narrow.

Amy Webb
MIT Sloan Management Review, 2020
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9

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Disruptive forces can mean disaster for even the most successful organizations – but they can also offer valuable opportunities for leaders who perceive them in time to act. Quantitative futurist Amy Webb – founder of the Future Today Institute – outlines a system for identifying disruption long before it hits your organization.

Summary

When companies assess only familiar threats, they miss unfamiliar but crucial sources of disruption.

Leaders frequently fall into the trap of monitoring only for threats that are easy to see. As they scan their immediate environments, they miss the disruptive change that emerges from unfamiliar sources.

When managers of a large telecom organization established a team to assess disruptive forces that might arise within a three-year window, the team reported on the usual suspects: streaming platforms, new gadgets, gaming. The team completely neglected massive looming impacts from developments such as distributed computing and climate change. Powerful habits and unquestioned beliefs...

About the Author

Quantitative futurist Amy Webb is the founder of the Future Today Institute and professor of strategic foresight at the New York University Stern School of Business.

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