Skip to main content

31 (More) Days of #BIF7 - Day 26 - Whitney Johnson

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets, rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

You look up from the two documents on your desk. One is a business plan, and the other is a resignation letter. You are anxious and diaphoretic. Totally afraid of making the wrong decision. Of failing.

As you acknowledge your fear of failure and let it sit for a while in your gut, you begin to calm down, and then, eventually, smile. Because, in the words of Whitney Johnson, "If it feels scary and lonely, you're probably on the right track."

During her BIF-7 talk, Whitney focused on disruption as a key trigger for personal transformation. Fittingly, her anchor quotes crystallized her points and recalled some of the other BIF speakers.

"If it feels scary and lonely, you're probably on the right track"
We work to build up financial stability and status, and eventually accrue dependents and responsibility. It takes courage to make a change, especially mid-career, but if we don't, the odds are high that we'll eventually stagnate. This point made me think of Angus Davis and his emphasis on embracing failure.

"Be assured that you have no idea what will come next"
Because disruption dislodges us from embedded roles, environments, and situational patterns, anything is possible. We can't predict with any reliability what will happen or who will figure prominently next in our life. In this context, ambiguity and uncertainty fuel innovation and personal growth. Here I recalled Mari Kuraish, who literally had no idea where her path would lead.

"Throw out the performance metrics you've always relied on"

Whitney cited Moneyball and mentioned that for 90% of successful ventures, the strategy that leads to success is not the strategy originally pursued. This brought to mind Dennis Littky who -- like the GM of the Oakland A's -- recast the methods of nurturing talent and growing value. 

"Your odds of success will improve when you pursue a disruptive course"
The differentiator here, as Whitney elaborated in her talk, is to disrupt in new versus established spaces. Alexander Osterwalder would no doubt agree, who achieved a business bestseller by finding a niche in book creation: collaborative authoring and publishing.

You can read Whitney's blog post that was the basis for her BIF-7 talk about disruption here: http://blogs.hbr.org/johnson/2011/08/disrupt-yourself.html


Additional information:
http://blogs.hbr.org/johnson/

Whitney Johnson on Twitter
@johnsonwhitney

BIF Profile Page
http://businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/innovators/whitney-johnson


This is part of my 31 (More) Days of #BIF7 blog series.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work

I recently contributed an article to Information Outlook, the online magazine of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). The title is "When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work", and it's about how new networking tools enable us to cultivate workplace connections with people we rarely (or never) see but who can help us in important ways. Download the article as a PDF or read the web version below. When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work (PDF) When Weak Connections are Valuable at Work If you’re not sure who the weak ties are in your social network, look at the contacts on your phone. Chances are, there are some people in your contacts list you don’t call (much less see) on a regular basis, but you find it useful to keep them listed for those occasions when you do need to contact them. Perhaps your doctor, babysitter, mechanic, or accountant fits this description. If you use a social network like LinkedIn or Twitter professionally, you will have even mo

The Business Model Innovation Factory by Saul Kaplan (Book Review)

As a culture, we strive for personal transformation. Whether it's eating better and getting fit, redefining our professional value proposition through training and education, or simply trying to be kinder and gentler, we're constantly reinventing who we are and what we can do. We may not be successful all the time, or achieve breakthroughs like those featured on The Biggest Loser or facilitated by Tony Robbins , but millions of people successfully transform and reinvent themselves every year. Unfortunately, the very organizations where we work generally do not do the same. As Saul Kaplan elaborates in The Business Model Innovation Factory , most organizations struggle to transform from their core, initial business models and tend to become stagnant and vulnerable to disruptive competitors. The example Kaplan leads with is Blockbuster, which for a time owned the brick and mortar video and DVD rental space, until they were "netflixed" by a disruptive competitor (

Electric Snow Blower?

UPDATE - 12/15/2009 After some back and forth, we went with the Snow Joe Ultra 622U1 13 Amp Electric Snow Thrower. I'll be commenting about its performance as the winter progresses and we use it regularly, but we already had a chance to try it last Thursday (12/10), when the first big Lake Effect snow of the season dumped more than a foot of snow on us here just south of Buffalo. Based on the test run, the Snow Joe performed admirably, handling the one foot high snow in our driveway without issue and essentially doing everything I expected of a powerful torque but lightweight snow thrower. ORIGINAL POST - 8/17/2009 I know it's only August, but I live in Buffalo, and you always need to think ahead about snow. The last two winters, we went without any snow removal machinery, and it hasn't been fun. The first winter I just shoveled, and the second we hired a plowing service. The plow service was better than shoveling all the time, but there were still too many times