Disrupt Yourself, With a New Introduction

5

Step Down, Back, or Sideways to Grow

You have learnt something. That always feels at first as if you have lost something.

—George Bernard Shaw

Sometimes the only way up is down. Think of the diver who crouches down before springing off the board, or the rower who strokes back to glide ahead. It’s Newton’s third law, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Disruption by definition involves moving sideways, back, or down, with all the negative connotations that conjures, in order to move forward. As a business owner, you part with profits to acquire the equipment you need to scale. As a manager, you sacrifice some of your own productivity to teach your employees new skills, making the whole team more effective ...