Oct 30 2007
CIO|08 Conference - A Summary
This year’s CIO|08 looked at the forces of disruption and what one needs to manage them successfully.
After attending the conference, my reaction to the word disruption has changed. When the conference started, I would hear the word disruption, and it alone would put me into a change management state, where I could feel myself preparing to gently help people through change and mitigate risks.
Now after reflecting upon what I heard and the conversations that filled the Coranado’s rooms, I find myself allowing my mind to wander. The word allows me to ask myself:
- What innovations can come of this disruption? How can people rebalance their budgets to take advantage of the, perhaps, yet unforeseen opportunities?
- Who, or what, helped foster this environment of disruption?
- Will the disruption of today be as commonplace tomorrow as some previous disruptions now appear to us?
- When will I be willing to follow my “outlaw thoughts” and become a true disruptor?
Innovation and disruption now live together in my mind as a set pair. With true innovation comes disruption, and from disruption, innovation is fostered. No matter what comes first, I know that in the end there will be positive ramifications and it is our mission to seize them.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.” William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Although the above quote is often heard, I still find myself drawn to it to clarify how I now define disruption. Disruption is an opportunity to innovate.