The Key to Identifying and Seizing Opportunities is Understanding Disruption
The following is adapted from Surfing Rogue Waves.
Disruption is inevitable. When our life systems are pushed out of equilibrium, either on purpose or by accident, we ultimately change and are allowed to grow. Some disruption is more obvious than others. Sometimes you will see the general direction of it; other times you will have to improvise as you pioneer through entirely new terrain created in the moment.
Disruption isn’t a bad thing. Think of disruption like waves we want to surf: when we understand those waves of disruption, we avoid paddling into situations that are beyond our ability to handle (shark-infested waters or suicidal waves). At the same time, because we understand them, we can be excited about the oncoming waves instead of fearing them.
Continuing with the surfing analogy, because it works so well to illustrate the point: waves are coming. They are the waves of change from technological advancements and all the other disruptions our world will experience. They will demand our focus as they push our limits like never before. However, the waves are inevitable. If you want to ride them, if you want to identify and seize the opportunities they bring, you must seek out the disruption. Make them the moments you live for.
If you do—and I’ll share some insight about how to do that—the next thing you know, you’ll be surfing along in an automatic reaction in the face of disruption. You’ll be able to adapt and ride more waves, catching the best ones and allowing them to propel you forward. The alternative? Try to run from the waves, and the best you can hope for is that if you wipe out you are not left in the impact zone. The choice is yours.
Disruption Happens No Matter What
The waves of disruptions are like science; they are going to happen whether you believe in them or not. If you don’t address the disruption, face it, and ride it, you’ll be left behind. Welcome to the Fourth Industrial Revolution—disruption is the new normal, and it’s getting faster.
Disruption starts long before we see it. Consider Blockbuster and Netflix. For most of us, the fall of one and rise of the other seemed instantaneous. But looking back on it, there were specific and intentional actions and decisions that happened long before the public noticed.
The trick, then, is to see these disruptions before they are surprises. The byproduct of disruption emerges at the intersection of our surfing framework as a transformational lever to transcend into our futures.
However, keep in mind that disruption is an opportunity long before it is ever a threat. Trying to replicate the best and brightest is no longer a recipe for success. Disruption routinely shows us that warning signals rarely come from the top.
We Can Leverage Disruption for Our Own Benefit
Keeping all that in mind, then, how can we identify, protect ourselves from, and leverage disruption for our own benefit? It all comes down to four key takeaways.
First, we must remember that disruption is our friend. In the world we currently live in, disruption is almost always an opportunity far before it is a threat of any kind. We need to embrace disruption and not try to avoid it in life. Although it might feel counterintuitive at times, we should paddle toward the waves, not away from them.
Next, we must always look for disruption. However, only do this when you’re in a strong place. When everything is going perfect in our lives, that is when we start to innovate and look for disruption to capitalize on it. We do not want to wait until we are on a downslide, in the gutter, in the valley of despair, and when everything is going wrong in life. We look to engage disruption long before this point.
Remember, to look down and in different places too. In business, we are reminded to look for disruption by observing opportunities at the bottom of the market. Disruption very rarely comes from above. Look at what different groups of people are doing—your younger siblings and colleagues, for example. It is not about keeping your head up this time. It is not about doing things the way they have always been done, embrace diversity, and learn from different means.
Finally, do not get distracted. We can protect ourselves and our efforts from disruption by making sure we understand and focus specifically on what we are trying to solve or achieve. It is important not to lose our focus on what we are trying to solve or achieve, despite the speed at which life pulls us in many different directions.
Identify and Seize Opportunities
This understanding of disruption is foundational in diagnosing what we can and cannot do in our own lives. It helps us prioritize our efforts, time, money, and resources to grow and build our future capabilities. Disruption will help guide our intuition to identify opportunities quickly and determine which operations are critical to focus on.
Understanding disruption allows us to highlight what order to complete our tasks, attempt them at all, or possibly outsource the effort. From these concepts, we can manage our strategy as we paddle into the waves of disruption. It gives us a way to objectively take data and turn it into information, and we can use this information to build knowledge. How we turn this knowledge into wisdom in our daily lives is up to us.
For more advice on a powerful framework you can use to thrive in the face of disruption and change, you can find Surfing Rogue Waves on Amazon.
Eric Pilon-Bignell is a pragmatic futurist focused on addressing disruption by increasing the creative capacity of individuals, teams, and organizations to ignite change, innovation, and foster continuous growth. Eric has an undergraduate degree in engineering, an MBA in Information Systems, and a Ph.D. in Global Leadership. His doctoral work primarily explored complexity sciences centered on executive cognition and their use of intuitive improvisation, decision-making, artificial intelligence, and data-based decision models. When he is not working with clients, researching, or writing, he can be found in the mountains or on the water. He founded PROJECT7 to raise awareness and money for research on brain-related illnesses. Eric is currently working and living with his wife in Chicago, Illinois. To connect or learn more about this book, Eric, or PROJECT7, please visit www.ericpb.me.