In case you haven’t been following the drama, Jill Lepore, a Harvard professor, launched a massive attack in the New Yorker on Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation that he introduced in his influential book Innovator’s Dilemma. Since the book’s release, this gospel has been co-opted by Silicon Valley, where everything from a SpaceX to every dumb photo app is constantly “disrupting” everything. Needless to say, Mr. Christensen did not take it well watching his cash cow get stabbed. And he’s taken heat for how he reacted.
This topic came up while I was a guest on Tonya Hall‘s Marketing Mavericks show on TWIT.TV. At 17:47 in the video below, I explain what I believe to be the truth about disruption. (Check out the whole episode, as we get into Facebook’s controversial mood study and other fun tech topics.)
Further reading: Here is another interesting take on the disruption feud from Stratechery.