• Either you are a disruptor or you will be disrupted.

    Posted on October 10th, 2007 by and currently 26 commenting.

    That’s the message John Winsor of CP+B gave to a small group I was fortunate enough to be a part of last week.

    And he’s right.

    Disruptors act. Those who get disrupted react.

    Disruptors make waves. Those who get disrupted try to ride them out.

    Disruptors blaze new trails. Those who get disrupted play keep-up.

    Disruptors do. Those who get disrupted talk about doing.

    Disruptors know that they are in danger of being seen as one of, say, 76,800 in their industry and do something about it. Those who get disrupted try and deny the facts and instead fool themselves into believing that they aren’t special.

    Getting disrupted it easy, because it’s passive. Being the disruptor is hard. As hell. Because it’s all about being aggressive.

    It kinda puts the world in a whole new perspective if you use this filter in everything you do ” especially in this industry. From the way you answer the phone to how you interact with prospective clients to how you present to how you turn a client into an advocate.

    Besides, disrupting is fun. While getting disrupted causes unrest and fear. We’ve all been disrupted at one time or another. And it’s no fun. So which one sounds better to you?

  • http://thebrandbuilder.blogspot.com olivier Blanchard

    Disruption is always, always, always the best course of action.

  • http://www.whatsthediff.com Christy

    Thanks for reminding me. It’s been a long time since I’ve called the office, just to hear what FI Chris has to say when he answers. Then again, I haven’t heard FI Steve’s antics, either.

  • Scott White

    Sure, easy to write but to do it requires a skill set you obviously don’t have. Unless you have a big set to go on your own and start your own company. Which I don’t think you have as you are just an employee.

    So keep rambling and “disrupting” all you like but unless you take some risks you are just preaching. Personally I like Doers and not followers. That’s what separates people like the 76,000 and you. At least they had the balls to DO something and took action. They took risks that you can’t imagine. Because you WORK for someone else.

    But hey the leaders of today need people like you. The followers or risk adverse people. You help people like us (the 76,000) become successful and we appreciate those efforts as I’m sure the owner of Brains on Fire does. I’m sure she really appreciates all you do…

    Instead of preaching take some real action. Go out on your own and start disrupting if you have the guts.

    I doubt you do.

  • http://www.ivey-mccoig.blogspot.com Billy

    Scott… first of all, starting your own business doesn’t take guts… it’s takes unimaginable stupidity. And humility.

    Some of us are just “more stupid” than others.

    Second, it’s a ridiculous statement to say that you have to “start your own company” in order to be a disrupter. Business owners who hire “followers” are simply not very good business owners. I would be so pissed if I worked for a guy who doesn’t think I have a cod-sack just because I agreed to get hired by him.

    It seems to me that you should try to hire people who are better than you… more disruptive… more inclined to help you make a difference.

    Hiring followers and not do-ers is… well… really, really stupid.

  • http://www.orangecoat.com Evan

    Disruptor = Leader. And “If you are not the lead dog, the view never changes.”

  • http://thebrandbuilder.blogspot.com olivier Blanchard

    Exactly.

    Being a disruptor means that you own the initiative – which puts all of the power (and all of the risk) squarely in your bag. Everyone wants that power (or think they do, anyway), but very few people really have the nads to take on that level of personal risk.

    Risk aversion from senior management, more than a lack of original ideas or lack of talent in an organization, is what keeps most businesses from becoming disruptors/leaders in their markets.

  • http://iveymccoig.com Ted

    Right, Evan. But “leader” doesn’t always equal “owner”.

  • http://www.whatsthediff.com Clayton

    Great post and I totally agree.

    The trouble I have is that many people mistake being a constructive disruptor with being a dick. Quite a difference.

  • http://www.whatsthediff.com Christy

    Whoa. Clayton shows up! And in a big way.

    Wow, Scott really missed the boat. Heck, if the local library didn’t have disruptors on staff (hah! “staff!”), they wouldn’t be adding music and movies to the collection. The offerings would never change. Heck, I love the old card catalog as much as any old-school librarian, but you gotta admit… distruptors are needed in every walk of life.

  • http://thebrandbuilder.blogspot.com olivier Blanchard

    Clayton: It’s hard to call someone a dick (at least outloud) when they make a point to always be either cordial, polite or professional (or any combination of the three) while their disruptive strategies create unwelcome waves in your market.

    More often than not, being a dick isn’t about what you do, it’s about how you do it.

    Cheers.

  • http://www.orangecoat.com Evan

    RE: But “leader” doesn’t always equal “owner”.

    Agreed. But ownership (of a business, an idea, and initiative, whatever) often helps to ignite leadership. Whether that is effective leadership is quite another story.

    Words are fun.

  • http://thebrandbuilder.blogspot.com olivier Blanchard

    Palabra, esse.

  • Scott White

    What’s Spike doing to be a disruptor? Blogging? I know I did something, I’m a leader. You can disagree but taking the risk of starting and owning a successful business for 20 years says something in the real world. Not just a bunch of bull blogging crap.

    And of course I have great people who work for me but they don’t have the guts to do it on their own, that’s why they work for me. When you have to go out and earn business to pay the bills you learn what it takes to be a disruptor.

    Unless of course you live in magic land where all business just comes knocking on your door.

    Ultimately what I’m trying to say and doing a horrible job at is stop preaching and start doing. You can write all you want, what are you doing? Working for someone else, well in my humble opinion is not disrupting, we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

  • http://www.fix22creative.com Robbie

    “And of course I have great people who work for me but they don’t have the guts to do it on their own, that’s why they work for me.”

    I’m sure they’re jazzed to hear this.

  • http://www.catchyourlimit.com Kyle

    Hey Scott, what’s the weather like up there?

  • libby

    “I’m a leader.” “And of course I have great people who work for me but they don’t have the guts to do it on their own.”

    Scott. Great comments.

    As a former employee of the disruptors who has a long standing, excellent relationship with that crazy bunch, I am here to tell you that they are disruptors. Each and every one. They do it different. Because they are a smart company WHO HIRES PEOPLE THAT ARE ALSO SMART – sometimes smarter than the ones who hired them in the first place. Don’t shake in your boots over that concept. I know it’s a scary to think for one second that the power of great minds working together can actually do great things. But they do and will continue because they are smart.

    Try hiring people who are smart. And see how you too can shake up the future of YOUR company. It’s a scary thought, but it just may work. After all, they didn’t put a man on the moon with just one smart man in the drivers seat.

  • http://www.whatsthediff.com Christy

    libby, you said it!! Thank you!!

  • http://www.brandidentityguru.com Scott White

    The weathers great, as a matter of fact I’m jetting off to my villa in St Thomas for the winter right after Thanksgiving. Then I’ll be sipping frozen drinks at Megans Bay thinking about all you “disruptors” until I get back to Boston in May 08.

    Check it out here: http://www.caretbay.com

    It’s available for rent until November 27th, discounts to any and all “disruptors”.

    Now who’s disrupting?

  • http://www.catchyourlimit.com Kyle

    The blue marlin bite down there is fantastic. Of course you’ll have to put up with those crotchety ol’ captains taking you to the same ol’ spots in their GPS.

    They don’t have the guts to try some place different. Why don’t you ask him to try some place new? You might not catch anything but at least you’ll make a new disruptor friend.

  • Branding Agency

    I have the coolest buddy/captain there so we go fishing all the time. Caught a 70lb Wahoo (pictures on the site) last winter. The only distrupting I do in the winter is Cruzan Rum. Otherwise my really smart gutless employees run the show and trust me, I’m the nicest boss they’ve ever had)!

  • Chris

    It seems to me that ego affords a person a villa in St. Thomas, frozen drinks, and a lifetime of employees who have mastered the art of muttering “asshole” silently to themselves; meanwhile, intelligence and ingenuity offers respect and stronger bonds with employees and people in general – not to mention vastly superior quality of work.

    I’m new to this shindig, and I may be naïve, but I’ll take respect over a margarita any day, sir.

  • Pingback: nofi.org » links for 2007-10-17

  • Branding Agency

    Well, I haven’t lost an employee in 8 years. So they’ve apparently been muttering for a while. They love working for me. I tell it like it is always. Some people don’t like that but most do. Since no one here knows who works for me I don’t think you should pass any judgement. I have an outstanding team and they all know where they stand with me.

    Sorry if you feel hurt because I said employees don’t have the guts to do it on their own. But they don’t and that’s a fact. Otherwise they wouldn’t work for someone else.

    Let me ask it this way. Why wouldn’t you want to run your own destiny? What’s holding you back? Does one really desire to have a boss?

    I think most if not all would want to do it on their own but they don’t because of the risk. Therefore the only disrupting they do is for the owners of the companies they work for.

    But sitting on the beach 7 months out of the year ain’t a bad life.

    p.s. I love distrupting, in my work, social life, everywhere. And I have the guts to say it.

  • Chris

    If you want your legacy to be ass prints in the sand, that’s fine by me – I just don’t understand what you’re trying to accomplish by attacking other companies through a blog – which, frankly, Is probably seldom read by anyone that could be a benefit to you or your company anyway.

    On a side note – Don’t think that no one noticed that you stopped linking in your incredibly horrid, (and I can’t stress this enough) terrible, terrible website when it got blasted by a fellow commentator yesterday – so let’s stop pretending that we’re all invincible.

  • http://www.brandidentityguru.com Branding Agency

    Our blog is read by literally thousands per day. As we rank for every major branding term there is.

    We don’t attack anyone. Just give our opinions on branding. Some are great, others not so great. Maybe those that attack first should expect an honest review coming back at them.

    Stopped linking? Sorry no idea what you’re even talking about?

    Spike controls whether or not a link goes back to our site. Ask Spike why he took down the link.

    My posts on this blog have never been insulting or an attack on anyone. I will never attack anyone on their blog. If you don’t like my opinion fine, but the only one attacking here is you.

    And frankly your opinion of the BIG website is meaningless.

  • http://www.brandidentityguru.com/wordpress Scott White

    Hey Spike, how come you took down the link to our site? Apparently I’ve caused a bit of a stir (disruption)? But I will never be unprofessional to anyone on the Brains blog.

    I’m just stating my opinion and I’m pretty sure I still get to have one in the good ole US….

    Isn’t that part of blogging? Having your own ideas, thoughts and opinions?