Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business

Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business

by Luke Williams
Released September 2015
Publisher(s): Pearson
ISBN: 9780134008127

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

&>Master a complete five-step program for identifying and executing on disruptive business opportunities!  Now updated and even more effective, Luke Williams' Disrupt, Second Edition combines the design industry's most powerful "disruptive thinking" techniques with real business implementation discipline.

Drawing on his pioneering experience innovating at the legendary frog design (and teaching innovation at NYU), Williams shows exactly how to generate and execute on a steady stream of disruptive strategies. Using updated examples and a book-length case study, Williams shows how the more unexpected an idea, the smaller the number of competitors, and the more successful the company that brings it to market.

You'll walk through generating your disruptive hypothesis, defining your disruptive market opportunity, creating multiple disruptive ideas, shaping them into an actionable solution, and persuading key stakeholders to adopt or invest in your solution.

Disrupt, Second Edition is for all entrepreneurs, product and marketing managers, R and D specialists, strategists, and senior executives seeking to create disruptive products, services, and customer experiences. It offers you a systematic and proven way to redefine your company's future, stun your industry, and leave your competitors scrambling to catch up.

Table of contents

  1. About This eBook
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Praise for the Prior Edition of Disrupt
  5. Dedication Page
  6. Contents
  7. Notes about Second Edition
  8. Preface to the Second Edition: Better to be the Disrupter than the Disrupted
  9. Introduction. Disruptive Thinking: The Revolution Is in Full Swing
    1. Thinking the Unthinkable
    2. Disruptive by Design
    3. The Goal of This Book
    4. Five Stages of Disruptive Thinking
    5. Part I: The Hypotheses, the Opportunity, and the Ideas
      1. Chapter 1—Crafting a Disruptive Hypothesis: Be Wrong at the Start to Be Right at the End
      2. Chapter 2—Discovering a Disruptive Opportunity: Explore the Least Obvious
      3. Chapter 3—Generating a Disruptive Idea: Unexpected Ideas Have Fewer Competitors
    6. Part II: The Solution, and the Pitch
      1. Chapter 4—Shaping a Disruptive Solution: Novelty for Novelty’s Sake Is a Resource Killer
      2. Chapter 5—Making a Disruptive Pitch: Under Prepare the Obvious, Over Prepare the Unusual
    7. Part III: The Disruptive Leader
      1. Chapter 6—The Disruptive Leader’s Motivation: A Different Attitude
      2. Chapter 7—The Disruptive Leader’s Mindset: A Different Awareness
    8. How This Process Developed
    9. What This Book Is Not
  10. Part I: The Hypotheses, the Opportunity, and the Ideas
    1. Chapter 1. Crafting a Disruptive Hypothesis: Be Wrong at the Start to Be Right at the End
      1. What Do You Want to Disrupt?
      2. What Are the Clichés?
        1. Searching for Clichés
      3. What Are Your Disruptive Hypotheses?
        1. What Can You Invert?
        2. What Can You Deny?
        3. What Can You Scale?
    2. Chapter 2. Discovering a Disruptive Opportunity: Explore the Least Obvious
      1. Be Quick and Informal
      2. What Are Your Observations?
        1. What, Exactly, Am I Looking For?
        2. A Few Final Tips
      3. What Did You Find Out?
        1. Coding Your Observations
      4. What Are Your Insights?
        1. Look for What’s Unexpected and Ask, “Why?”
        2. Capturing Your Insights
      5. What Are Your Disruptive Opportunities?
        1. Moving from Insights to Opportunities
        2. Describing the Opportunities
    3. Chapter 3. Generating a Disruptive Idea: Unexpected Ideas Have Fewer Competitors
      1. Transforming an Opportunity into an Idea
        1. Stumbling Block 1
        2. Teams and individuals feel overwhelmed, directionless, and lack focus
        3. Stumbling Block 2
        4. Many organizations still think of the world in terms of isolated products, services, and information
        5. Stumbling Block 3
        6. Most ideas never get articulated in anything other than water-cooler conversations
      2. What Is Your Focus? (Getting Past Stumbling Block 1)
        1. Focus Your Creative Effort
        2. Forcing Connections
      3. What Can You Blend Together? (Getting Past Stumbling Block 2)
        1. Refine Three Ideas
      4. What Are Your Disruptive Ideas? (Getting Past Stumbling Block 3)
  11. Part II: The Solution and the Pitch
    1. Chapter 4. Shaping a Disruptive Solution: Novelty for Novelty’s Sake Is a Resource Killer
      1. What Do People Really Think? (As Opposed to What They Tell You They’re Thinking)
        1. Memory Mapping
        2. Individual Ranking
        3. Group Ranking
        4. Improvement Exercise
        5. Open Discussion
      2. Which Idea Should You Use? (Introducing Mr. Potato Head)
        1. Be Quick and Dirty
        2. Iteration Cycles
        3. Set Up a Review Team
        4. Recording Information
      3. What’s Your Disruptive Solution? (Three Rounds of Prototyping)
        1. Round 1: The Storyboard. Grab Some Paper
        2. Round 2: The Mock-Up. Grab Some Velcro and Cardboard
        3. Round 3: The Video and/or Photo Scenario. Grab Your Camera
    2. Chapter 5. Making a Disruptive Pitch: Underprepare the Obvious, Overprepare the Unusual
      1. Nine Minutes to Pitch
      2. Quick Note on Structure
      3. Please Hold Your Questions
      4. What Happens if You Have a Larger Block of Time to Make Your Pitch?
      5. Building Empathy: Your Introduction and the First Three Slides
        1. Slide 1: The Status Quo
        2. Slide 2: The Observations
        3. Slide 3: The Story
      6. Building Tension: Slides 4–6
        1. Slide 4: Tell Them What They Don’t Know (The Insight)
        2. Slide 5: Give Them a Turning Point (The Opportunity)
        3. Slide 6: Make It Familiar (The Analogy)
      7. Making Your Audience Believe: The Final Three Slides
        1. Slide 7: The Solution
        2. Slide 8: Make Change Appealing (The Advantages)
        3. Slide 9: Leave Them on a High (The Ethos)
    3. Quick Reference Guide: Process Summary
      1. Crafting a Disruptive Hypothesis
        1. What Do You Want to Disrupt?
        2. What Are the Clichés?
        3. What Are Your Hypotheses?
      2. Discovering a Disruptive Opportunity
        1. What Are Your Observations?
        2. What Are Your Insights?
        3. What Are Your Opportunities?
      3. Generating a Disruptive Idea
        1. What Is Your Focus?
        2. What Can You Blend Together?
        3. What Are Your Ideas? (Describe them.)
      4. Shaping a Disruptive Solution
        1. What Do People Really Think?
        2. Which Idea Should You Move Forward With?
        3. What Is Your Solution?
      5. Making a Disruptive Pitch
        1. How Are You Creating Empathy? (3 Slides, 3 Minutes)
        2. How Are You Building Tension? (3 Slides, 3 Minutes)
        3. How Will You Make Your Audience Believe? (3 Slides, 3 Minutes)
  12. Part III: The Disruptive Leader
    1. Chapter 6. The Disruptive Leader’s Motivation: A Different Attitude
      1. Innovation for Growth: Better Recipes
      2. Innovation Capital: Ideas as Currency
      3. Innovation Capability: Cult of Personality
    2. Chapter 7. The Disruptive Leader’s Mindset: A Different Awareness
      1. Conceptual Innovation: Self-Imposed Boundaries
      2. Conceptual Continuity: Holding the Horses
        1. The Engine Is Running
      3. Conceptual Competencies: The Curse of Best Practices
      4. Conceptual Context: Stopping People In Train Stations
        1. The Devil’s Brew
        2. One-Finger Typing
  13. Epilogue. An Instinct for Change: Look Where No One Else Is Looking
  14. Endnotes
    1. Preface
    2. Introduction
    3. Chapter 1
    4. Chapter 2
    5. Chapter 3
    6. Chapter 4
    7. Chapter 5
    8. Chapter 6
    9. Chapter 7
    10. Epilogue
  15. Acknowledgments
  16. About the Author
  17. Beyond the Book
  18. Index

Product information

  • Title: Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business
  • Author(s): Luke Williams
  • Release date: September 2015
  • Publisher(s): Pearson
  • ISBN: 9780134008127