In honor of The Disruptive Voice's 80th episode, along with the start of the new academic year at Harvard Business School, we decided to re-release this recording from our archives. Originally released in September of 2016, Clay had invited some of his former Building & Sustaining a Successful Enterprise (BSSE) students back to campus to talk about the goals of the course, while also taking questions from the audience. In this episode, he discusses not only what the BSSE course has set out to achieve, but also the importance of having a common language and way to frame problems, and what theory has to say about competitive response, electric vehicles, mergers and acquisitions, RPPs (resources, processes, and priorities), anomalies, enabling technologies, measuring one's life, and more! Take yourself back five years in time and pull up a seat to this great session with Prof Clayton Christensen.  

Back in 2003, Steve Kaufman was the first partner who Clay brought on to teach the BSSE course with him, and he has subsequently had a tremendous impact on generations of our students. At the end of June, Steve officially retired from the Harvard Business School. As such, we wanted to sit down with him to have him to reflect on his career and time working with Clay, his thoughts on the course and its cases, and his forecast for the future of management education. Hosted by Derek van Bever, the two also discuss a number of Steve’s “Kaufmanisms” (for instance, never try to teach a pig to sing; good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement; if you can’t hide it, feature it; and culture eats strategy for breakfast every morning!), along with his thoughts on the importance of mentorship, disruptive versus sustaining innovations, his favorite BSSE frameworks, whether incumbents have become better at warding off disruption, and so much more. Enjoy this lively conversation - and have a wonderful rest of your summer! The Disruptive Voice will be back in September with more conversations that we hope you’ll find inspiring and useful. 

One consequence of the coronavirus pandemic has been the acceleration of many industry trends that had already been underway in 2019. The ever-increasing pace of change in the restaurant industry is no exception, and one particular development of note has been the rise of dark kitchens, also known as cloud kitchens or ghost kitchens. A few months ago, Sam and Prashant (along with co-author Yury Adamov) published a paper entitled, “When Kitchens Go Dark: How Covid-19 Could Transform the Restaurant Industry.” In this episode, they join Steve Geskos to further elaborate on the topic, taking a deep dive into the world of dark kitchens. Both draw on Prof Christensen’s theories to reflect on the restaurant space, but Sam - Founder and CEO of Phinix Virtual Kitchens Group - considers industry change from the perspective of an entrepreneur who abandoned his brick-and-mortar restaurant in order to adopt a dark kitchen business model, while Prashant offers insights from his vantage point as a Partner at Innosight. This thought-provoking conversation touches on a myriad of topics, including the brutal competitiveness of the industry; the changing basis of competition and the incumbents who might be most prone to disruption as a result; the long-term viability of traditional restaurants' business models; and the opportunities created by big event disruptions to drive growth, including changing consumer expectations in a world slowly emerging from the pandemic and its implications for those looking to build and sustain successful enterprises in this space. 

Many listeners will know Ann Christensen as President & CEO of The Clayton Christensen Institute. To Clay, however, she was his oldest daughter, Annie. How Will You Measure Your Life, published with co-authors James Allworth & Karen Dillon in 2012, is one of Clay’s most popular books, challenging each of us to think more deeply about our life and our purpose, including how we nurture our relationships to become enduring sources of happiness. In this episode, and through the lens of How Will You Measure Your Life, Ann reflects on what it was like to grow up in the Christensen house, sharing stories and memories of Clay as a father. Hosted by Katie Zandbergen, she also discusses her path from Duke University to Mongolia to Harvard Business School and beyond, along with the story of The Christensen Institute, both where it’s been and where Ann hopes to lead the organization in the future. At the helm of The Christensen Institute, and embodying Clay’s love of learning from “all kinds of kinds”, Ann is carrying on her father’s work, making the world a better place through Disruptive Innovation. 

Snigdha Sur is a Harvard Business School alumna and founder of The Juggernaut, a premium publication and community that publishes smart and well-reported stories about South Asia and South Asians. Hosted by Anibha Singh, Snigdha discusses developments and gaps in the news and media landscape, including how these impact South Asian diaspora communities; the story behind the founding of The Juggernaut, along with how the organization has evolved from conception, through its development, to its current form; and her vision for the platform going forward. In chronicling her experiences as Founder & CEO at The Juggernaut, Snigdha also reflects on the BSSE theories that have informed her path, shares insights on what the entrepreneurial journey has taught her about launching a venture as a minority female founder, considers the future of media, and offers advice to those looking to build and sustain successful enterprises of their own. 

In this conversation, hosted by Michael Horn, Julia builds on her foundational statement, “Opportunity really sits at the intersection of what you know and who you know.” Together, they discuss the important distinctions between our strong tie and weak tie networks; innovation in education; the ed tech market and which tools are best suited for network building, and in which circumstances; the Cadillac versus the KIA of mentoring organizations and strategies; performance metrics; the rise of chat bots, and more! Julia also shines a light on the new playbook created by The Clayton Christensen Institute, designed to support K-12 and post-secondary leadership in the implementation and adaptation of strategies, tools, and metrics that build and strengthen their students’ networks. The disruption story here lies in the potential not of putting all relationships online but rather exploiting technology’s competitive advantage to diversify our weak tie networks, which are most helpful for creating opportunities that may otherwise be out of reach. Listen to learn more about steps we can take to help ensure that every student graduates with the networks needed to thrive! 

John de Souza is an entrepreneur and investor who, over the course of his career, has accumulated a great depth of experience in sectors of technology, automotive, health, and finance. In this episode, he joins Steve Geskos to discuss his current role as Co-Founder and President at Ample, a company whose mission is to accelerate the transition to electric mobility through the offering of an energy delivery solution that is as fast, as convenient, and as cheap as gas, while also being powered by 100% renewable energy. This is accomplished by delivering energy to electric vehicles through modular battery swapping, which resonates greatly with the Interdependence & Modularity framework taught in the Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise (BSSE) course developed by Prof Christensen at Harvard Business School. Ample’s swapping stations require no construction and take up only the space of two parking spots, the swapping process itself is fully automated, and their future-proof batteries adapt to any electric vehicle. Listen to learn more about this market-creating innovation, John’s vision for Ample, and the future of transportation!

Along with his work as a Managing Director at Innosight, the consulting firm co-founded by Clayton Christensen and Mark Johnson over two decades ago, David Duncan is also a co-author with Clay on Competing Against Luck and co-author with Scott Anthony, host of this episode, on Building A Growth Factory. Most recently, David - a leading authority on the Jobs To Be Done framework, and drawing on his wealth of experience conducting market investigations – has published The Secret Lives of Customers: A Detective Story About Solving the Mystery of Customer Behavior. David and Scott touch on a myriad of topics in this insightful and witty conversation. In one instance, David, reflecting on the experience of writing his page-turning mystery, tells listeners, "I've always thought that doing research on customers is kind of like detective work. You go out in the world, you do interviews, you try to gather clues and piece together patterns and make observations, and you draw out insights to crack the case - I took that metaphor to an extreme in this story and used that as a premise for the plot." The Secret Lives of Customers addresses the conundrum that though more data than ever before is widely available, most still find it challenging to understand who their customers really are, why they act as they do, and what they really want. Learning to think like a market detective can help to answer these questions!

In this episode, Efosa Ojomo returns to The Disruptive Voice to discuss his latest research at The Christensen Institute’s Global Prosperity group. He and his colleague, Lincoln Wilcox, recently published a report highlighting six innovative strategies for creating new markets in emerging economies. This conversation, hosted by Katie Zandbergen, focuses on the findings from their research, along with the implications for those looking to create prosperity around the globe. Efosa speaks not only about the tremendous opportunities surrounding market-creating innovations, helping would-be entrepreneurs to see prospects for building and sustaining successful enterprises where they might least expect them, but also about demystifying the process, debunking false narratives and empowering entrepreneurs to launch innovative and market-creating ventures in emerging markets. 

Talenia Phua Gajardo, an alumna of HBS Executive Education’s Disruptive Innovation course, is Founder & CEO of The Artling, an online gallery and arts consultancy featuring a curated collection of art and design pieces from a myriad of artists, galleries, and designers. Founded in 2013, the organization aims to both showcase stunning works of art and to make them more accessible to a broader, international audience. As you’ll hear more about in this episode, the pandemic has presented The Artling with both challenges and opportunities, but of particular note is how Covid-19 has forced the rapid digitization of art galleries. Hosted by Chris Diak, Talenia discusses steps she’s taken to steer The Artling through choppy coronavirus waters; her thoughts on why people hire art and design; the importance of trust in this age of increasing e-commerce; how she’s thinking about pursuing growth and scaling her organization; the experience of art in-person versus through online platforms; and the future of the arts industry. We hope you enjoy this artful conversation!