Teaching, Predictability, and the Distinction of Disruption

Business leaders need to be versatile, critical thinkers capable of questioning the status quo while integrating actionable frameworks to drive innovation. How does this align with the principles today’s business school graduates are learning and will they be capable of integrating actionable frameworks to drive innovation in the future?

Scott D. Anthony is a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and the author of several books. His latest work is titled Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World.

Greg and Scott discuss Scott's latest book, Epic Disruptions, as well as his previous works, including Dual Transformations and Eat, Sleep, Innovate. Their conversation examines the intricacies of disruption theory, its need for an update, and the complexity of business models in today's ecosystem-focused world. Scott shares insights from his extensive research and consulting experience, touching on historical examples like the iPhone, Tesla, and Julia Child, and emphasizing the importance of adapting mental models to navigate uncertainty. 

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Episode Quotes:

Innovation is predictably unpredictable

39:59: Scott: Randomness is absolutely a feature of every innovation story that you'll study. And the conclusion I drew from the research is that innovation has become more predictable, but it's not perfectly predictable. So I called it predictably unpredictable in that—

Greg: Now, is it more predictable because we have better tools and better frameworks?

Scott: I think so. I think A, we have better tools and better frameworks, and B, we really have learned the discipline of scientific method applied to strategy through lean startup, emergent strategy, and so on. So that does not mean that we can predict exactly. It does not mean that we know what is going to happen beforehand, but it means that we can confront the uncertainty in a more practiced, more methodical sort of way, so we can manage it in a different sort of way. I think that is a huge change in the innovation world. So, a combination of two things: better understanding, better research, which gives us better tools and frameworks, and then an active way to go and chip away at the things that we still will not know. But still, there is lots of unpredictability in it.

Disruption changes the game

08:52: The important thing about disruption is it changes the game, and by changing the game, it drives explosive growth.

Why business schools must teach wisdom, not just tools

44:28: There is a fundamental question of how do we make sure that it is connected to the modern world and what it needs to do? And second, technical tools are pretty easy to learn, and tools like ChatGPT, et cetera, can take it really well. We need to make sure that our students are critical thinkers that are really able to be what we are aspiring our students to be—wise, decisive leaders that better the world through business. We need to teach wisdom. We need to teach curiosity. We need to make sure that people go out with the right mindset, and that is really hard. That is not an easy thing to do in traditional classroom settings with case-based methods. I think there is still a huge role for that, and a role for simulations, experiential things—things that really push people to uncomfortable places where they learn and give them the humility, the wisdom to be able to confront an incredibly challenging world.

On Florence Nightingale as a disruptor

36:17: She [Florence Nightingale] goes and opens up nursing hospitals, enabling a broader population to be nurses. And like nightingales, they fly through the world. So she comes up with a really clear vision that is communicated clearly. She gives people step-by-step instructions, and she creates a cadre of people that can go and follow those instructions. And by doing so, she drives massive system change. This is disruption in healthcare—enabling a lesser-trained, lesser-skilled group of people to provide high-quality care, moving from treating bad things to preventing them from ever happening. So I love the story, because you think of her as a nurse. You think of her as somebody who helped people in a dire situation. Yes, she did all of that, but she also used data, used words, used teaching and training to change the world. 

Show Links:

Recommended Resources:

• Clayton Christensen
• Disruptive Innovation
• AlixPartners
• Steve Jobs
• Andrew Grove
• ENIAC
• iPhone
• Rita Gunther McGrath
• https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1156427
• Julia Child
• Florence Nightingale
• Francis Bacon
• Scientific Method
• Bethlehem Steel
• DBS Bank
• William Farr
• Case Method

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at Tuck School of Business
• Innosight Profile
• LinkedIn Profile
• Social Profile on X

Guest Work:

• Amazon Author Page
• Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World
• The Innovator's Solution, with a New Foreword: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth
• Eat, Sleep, Innovate: How to Make Creativity an Everyday Habit Inside Your Organization
• The Little Black Book of Innovation: How It Works, How to Do It
• Dual Transformation: How to Reposition Today's Business While Creating the Future
• The First Mile: A Launch Manual for Getting Great Ideas into the Market
• Building a Growth Factory
• The Silver Lining: An Innovation Playbook for Uncertain Times
• The Innovator's Guide to Growth: Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work
• Seeing What's Next: Using the Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change

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