Clayton Christensen's insight that disruption breeds innovation makes more sense than ever especially in these uncertain times. To innovate in our turbulent environment, you need to learn new things, you need to forget how you've done things in the past and you need to borrow ideas from successful practitioners in the field.
You may have read an op-ed that appeared earlier this week in the New York Times called "End the University as We Know It." Interesting commentary because whether or not the actual recommendations occur one thing is certain: change is coming to the university, which means change is coming to you.
How does this relate to fruit flies? According to Christensen, geneticists study fruit flies instead of humans because fruit flies "are conceived, born, mature, and die all within one day." You need to find your fruit fly: those projects or initiatives that once worked but are now dying or have died. You know, that great idea (the publication or event or pitch) that doesn't seem to work any more. It's no longer doing the job it needs to do or was created to do. Study that because within its implementation and failure is the answer to what you need to forget. You'll find the internal institutional barriers you need to overcome and the organizational mindsets you need to break. And then study what is working whether it's at your university or not. That's what you need to borrow or learn. Correlate your findings and you will begin to have a roadmap to innovation.
The university as we know it is changing. And you can be on the innovative side of that or not. It's up to you.
This is the time to experiment. Experimentation and innovation go hand in hand.
Max Benavidez
President
Public Communications Strategies
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