How to Avoid Being “Disrupted”

Visit any business news site and you’ll find at least one article talking about “disruptors.” Uber has disrupted the urban transportation business. Airbnb has disrupted the hotel business. Amazon has disrupted the entire retail industry.
Any analyst will be happy to offer you his or her take on “the it factor” that made these dynamic upstarts capable of upsetting the biggest names in their industries. I believe we need to flip the conversation and talk about what those A-list organizations weren’t doing (or what they were doing poorly) that placed them in a position to be knocked off their perches.
When an organization reaches the top of its industry, it’s easy to become comfortable. That comfort often leads to complacency, and that’s dangerous territory.