Escaping Karma-Vertigo: There is a Silver Lining

Posted by Chris Flanagan on July 16, 2009

“The biggest silver lining for innovation is that the scarcity that is sure to result from the current economic climate is actually a good thing for innovation. Abundance is actually the root cause of many struggles with innovation.” –Scott Anthony, The Silver Lining

Last month the Business Innovation Factory hosted a conversation with BIF research advisor Clayton Christensen and a dozen senior healthcare, education and business leaders to talk about Christensen’s theories on disruptive innovation. The ability of technology to "disrupt" long-established standards and business practices - dramatically changing the landscape of industries by increasing access, cutting costs, and revolutionizing delivery - has been a subject discussed for decades and is the topic of Christensen's iconic volumes, The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution.

Yet so many of today's companies have become paralyzed by the economic crisis - suffering from what Jaron Lanier calls 'karma-vertigo' - seeing the potential for innovation yet only capable of slashing costs indiscriminately in a hail Mary attempt to survive through to the other side.  With a nod to Karl Marx who said “the philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it, ” we’ve seen several great academics like Christensen who have developed sound theories around how to innovate. But the point, however, is to actually do it.

That’s where Scott Anthony’s latest book (and first solo endeavor) The Silver Lining comes in. Scott is President of the boutique strategy and consulting firm Innosight. A protégé of Christensen, he’s co-written several books including Christensen’s Seeing What’s Next. This latest effort is his “innovation playbook for what to do in uncertain times.”

I had the great pleasure of sitting down to talk with Scott about the The Silver Lining. During our conversation, he shared some interesting insight into today's turmoil, aptly dubbed "the great disruption." Are we in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression? History will judge. But here’s what we do know: the turbulence we’re facing today isn’t going to go away. Markets are colliding, technology is evolving faster than ever, people are fighting for every dollar of profit and competitors are emerging from every corner of the world. “Constant change is the new normal,” says Anthony. “For companies, it’s not simply about how they operate to survive today, but how they change overall to adapt to this new reality.”

This little how-to book is chock full of straight-forward ideas and processes for companies to use to transform themselves into agile enterprises capable of thriving in this new norm. From pruning prudently to increasing innovation productivity to mastering smart strategic experiments, The Silver Lining reveals actionable steps managers can take today to ensure viability tomorrow.

Here’s my interview with Scott Anthony.  Decidedly upbeat, we talk a lot about the importance of experimentation in the innovation process – a subject of great importance to the BIF community. We believe the shelf-life of business models is indeed shrinking and it's critical that organizations  experiment with new business models, or ways to deliver value to their customers. Our neutral platform allows companies to run those experiments. It's a place where organizations can continue to pedal the bicycle of today's business model while experimenting and starting to learn about other new models.

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This post is part of The Silver Lining virtual book tour. Visit these other great blogs this week to get their take on the book:

• Tuesday, July 21: Jeff De Cagna, Principled Innovation
• Wednesday, July 22: Josh Kutticherry, futurethinktank
• Thursday, July 23: Jim McGee, FastForward Blog  and McGee’s Musings
• Friday, July 24: Boris Pluskowski, The Complete Innovator

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