Clay Christensen - Disruptive Innovation: Turning Turbulence into Transformation

Friday, March 3, 2006

On March 3, 2006, BIF welcomed Harvard Business School professor and BIF Research Advisory Council member Clay Christensen and the Innosight team to talk about disruptive innovation and the risks organizations face when they play too strictly by Wall Street rules. The session, the first of BIF's 2006 Innovation events, offered participants—from organizations like Blue Cross Blue Shield, CVS, Equity National, GTECH, HASBRO, Lifespan, and RITE-Solutions—an opportunity to test ideas using Innosight's evaluation tools and interact with other members of the BIF community.

Initial feedback suggests that the session was a hit. "This session was over the top. I am a big fan of Clay's and of the Business Innovation Factory," said GTECH Chief Technology Officer Joe Nadan. "GTECH invests heavily in and believes in innovation. We love the idea of having world-class people, like the ones here, educate us on how to do it better."

In addition to hearing directly from Christensen, participants evaluated ideas relevant to their own organizations using Innosight's I-OASYS (Innosight Opportunity Assessment System) tool. Using the I-OASYS tool, participants determined how well their ideas aligned with the patterns of successful disruption and identified challenges they would most likely to face in pursing a new opportunity.

"The session delivered a different way of looking at professional and management strategies and gave me new insights into how to address the barriers I encounter with technical implementation," said Lifespan Chief Technology Officer David Hemendinger. "The I –OASYS tool will help in analyzing the impact on people in our organization we will disrupt in order to make the transition of technology into their hands more seamless."

Held at the MET School—one of the most innovative educational facilities in the country—the session also offered participants the opportunity to tour the school's Public Street campus with some of the MET's best and brightest students. Thanks to Dennis Littky for hosting us!