Disrupt – Move beyond the Clichés
Whether we like to admit it or not, the universe is made up of clichés. These define how we do everything in life, how we grow up, start families, spend our time and also how we do our business. These beliefs govern the way we think about and do anything in life. If we pay attention to how we like to represent life as well, in the form of movies, we see this to be truer than ever. There is a good guy and there is a bad guy, bad guy tries to kill/kills the good guys’ family, the good guy ‘accidentally/in distress’ kills the bad guy while trying to save the family – convention being ‘Our hero is a good guy’. We have gotten accustomed to this and find comfort in the clichés. We usually say – “Well that’s how it is”, “that’s how the world works”. But some people don’t like how the world works. While we have this “bad guy vs good guy” norm, Tarantino disrupts with “Kill Bill” – A woman turned murderer for revenge.
This is applicable to our work as well. A lot of people do business a certain way “because this is the way it was meant to be done”. But if you no longer look for changing the way it is ‘meant’ to be done, how does business grow, how do you innovate, how do you create? This has certainly caught on across the globe. Disruptors are very popular in the angel investing markets. According to CNBC, the 50 companies selected for the top disruptors list of 2020 (examples include - Stripe, Coupang, Indigo Agriculture, etc.) have raised over USD 74 billion in venture capital, according to PitchBook, at an implied Disruptor 50 list market valuation of nearly USD 277 billion in 2020. However, disruption is not limited to just start ups anymore. Tesla is always among the top in MITs 50 smartest companies. Apple and Amazon, also feature on the same list, by virtue of its constant innovation driven to make the customer experience better.
Having said that, disruption for the sake of disruption is bothersome. It is no longer enough to come up with disruptive ideas, these ideas need to fill a gap in way that is valued by others. The core of any disruptive idea needs to be better value for the user - user centricity is key!
At Falak, we understand how the consulting world works within a corporate setting. We’ve lived it for years. And many have to told us that ‘If ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. We strongly disagree. We believe even things that don’t seem broken can be improved and made smarter, faster, and more efficient. We believe that nothing can be ignored, no idea can be left unexplored. Nothing at Falak is done the way it has been done before just because it was done before, even by us. Everything is improved, for us and our clients. We deny the clichés.