How to Be Relentlessly Committed to Self-Disruption

Disruption is highly uncomfortable! Purposefully causing disruption inside your business seems like a stupid thing to do! For what reason would you want to disrupt something that is running smoothly?

Well, for starters, building a business that never changes is a flawed business strategy. A business that is too rigid to change will be obliterated by the fast-changing marketplace! As Clayton Christensen pointed out in the Innovator’s Dilemma, the fact that you are successful makes it hard to keep the edge you need to win in the future!

We do not have to look too hard before we find prime examples of businesses that were once at the top of their game and now have failed or are basically on their death bed! It is clear that they were not relentlessly committed to self disruption.

The easy examples that always get the spotlight are businesses like Blockbuster, Sears, and Toys R Us. But, there are countless others including Radio Shack, Vitamin World, Gymboree, Swissair, Woolworth’s, Sharper Image, Polaroid, and the list goes on!

So, what can a business leader do to productively disrupt their business?

12 Game Changing Books in 2015

I believe that a lifetime of focused learning is critical for everyone but especially critical for those that want to be successful business leaders. There are many ways to learn but one of the most cost effective and impactful ways to learn is to develop the habit of daily reading.

I tend to read one to two books a month. Most of these are business related books but I do read a wide variety of books so that I am always expanding my worldview as much as possible.

The key with reading a book is to take a few principles out of each book and apply them to your life or business. Don’t just read a book, put it on the shelf and walk away. Take something from the book and apply it so it adds value to you in some way.

What follows is a list of twelve books that I have read this year that have had an impact on how I do things. I have provided a brief description and my biggest personal take-away from each book.