Disruption gets a bad rap?
- Phil D'Adamo
- Sep 19
- 2 min read
When we hear the word “disruptive”, most of us think of negatives — a child misbehaving in class, or a noisy patron spoiling a film.
But what if disruption is the leadership skill we most need right now?
👉 To break through complex problems or underwhelming performance, leaders must question and challenge old conventions and be willing to let them go. That is never easy, especially when we are deeply invested in the very conventions that hold us back.
Alan Kohler, in a recent ABC article (below) on fusion power and the Australia/USA alliance, argues that AUKUS, with its focus on submarines, looks like “old generals fighting the last war.”
The real disruption, he says, if we’re learning from Ukraine, is drones — faster, cheaper, and already reshaping modern conflict, including underwater drones. I’m sure the reality is more complex, but his point is valid: leaders need to understand where disruption is coming from and how to harness it.
If submarines are the convention, drones are the disruption.
Jean-Marie Dru, in Beyond Disruption, calls this the discipline of surfacing the conventions no one questions and daring to overturn them. That’s the art of disruptive leadership.
If you’re not questioning conventions or scanning for disruptions, you risk being left behind or worse, locking yourself into costly long-term commitments.
Monday night’s ABC news gave another example: robots being trialed to build homes. A potential game-changer for the building industry, its workforce, and consumers.
This is where change leadership coaching earns its place: independently and objectively helping leaders spot the “submarines” they’re clinging to, build the mindset to embrace the “drones” of tomorrow, and bring their teams with them.
COVID — and now AI — show we’re good at responding to disruption. But are we as good at creating disruption? That’s the real test of leadership if we want to drive big change.
I’ve had some success creating disruption, but it was incredibly difficult to execute — the resistance was enormous. Yet once it was overcome, the disruption proved well worth it.
So here’s the provocation: what’s the submarine in your world — and what’s the drone you should be bold enough to pursue instead?
#DisruptiveLeadership #LeadershipDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #InnovationLeadership #ChangeManagement #FutureOfWork #LeadershipMindset #TheChangeLounge
