“From Disruption to Sustainable Growth”

Success has never felt more fleeting. It seems no sooner do we herald the rise of a new upstart than we start to write its obituary. Research shows conclusively that corporate lifespans are shrinking and competitive intensity is increasing. While the process of “creative destruction” has its adherents, this boom-bust cycle carries a heavy cost. Not only do individuals find themselves thrust out of jobs, but corporate assets that were carefully cultivated over years, if not decades, get stripped apart.

Disruption is driving transformation across the global economy, with the coming maturation of technologies such as 3-D printing, drones, driverless cars, MOOCs, big data analytics, and more promising further change.

What if large organizations learned how to harness the power of disruptive change, plugging disruptive developments into existing infrastructure to drive impact at a scale beyond the reach of any startup?

What if the terms of discourse changed, so that instead of seeking to disrupt or disembowel existing companies, startups sought to work in tandem to achieve shared goals?

What if some of the best and brightest talent in the world shifted from chasing the lure of the next lucrative IPO in what some have called the advertising/narcissism complex to instead worked on big global challenges, such as feeding 10 billion people, making healthcare more accessible, or bringing education to pockets of the world that sorely need it?

What if we harnessed our collective creativity in empowering ways rather than dealing with the paradox of unprecedented wealth and prosperity paired with increasing isolation and depression?

How might we shift from disruption to sustainable growth?