DISRUPT! is a very cool buzz word in the world of business, and I LOVE the attention it’s getting. But, business owners are being taught this “strategy” of disruption in a way that is incredibly misleading. So, let’s detail what disruption REALLY looks like and also, how to disrupt for profit.
First, the TERM disrupt is defined as:
- to destroy, usually temporarily, the normal continuance or unity of;
- interrupt (an event, activity, or process) by causing a disturbance or problem.
- drastically alter or destroy the structure of (something).
Disrupting a MEETING or even an EVENT with an attention getting stunt (causing a disturbance) is one thing. And as a business owner, a book with the word F$#K in the title may TEMPORARILY get people’s attention… Posing nearly nude will TEMPORARILY disrupt, as will a contrarian event or media interview or whatever. But if you rely on these “tactics” to “disrupt,” you’ll always be beholden to SHOCK VALUE ATTENTION… needing to rely on the next stunt to get attention.
The problem is that shocking people has a shelf-life. Shock them TOO many times and they become largely unfazed by your crazy, zany stunts. In other words, they look, but they move on quicker with each stunt. Eventually, shock value tactics get less and less attention. The equivalent of slap stick comedy… funny in the moment but not really something people are forever changed by.
AND who wants JUST a quick fleeting moment of “WHAT did SHE just DO / post / publish?” Aren’t we about so much more than that?
To be a TRUE Disruptor, friends, you have to have some staying power. A TRUE disruptor comes one the scene and changes the GAME, change the CONVERSATION, even changes how the points are SCORED.
I am not a flashy person.
I’m what a loving parent may warn is “an acquired taste.”
Not IMMEDIATELY loved. lol…
So, I don’t come into and industry and take over.
But I DO show up and refuse to go away.
I’m an agitator really…
Pestering my industry…
Breaking their rules,
bucking their trends,
and having the AUDACITY
to be incredibly successful doing it.
And not just for a season,
like some one hit wonder,
but for the DURATION.
Going on 2 decades now.
Without kissing anyone’s ring.
DISRUPTION should change the game.
It should raise eyebrows, but ALSO
be sustainable enough to raise awareness,
to foster change,
to inspire innovation,
and real conversation.
Become a TRUE DISRUPTOR and you’ll always have a tribe of people you can serve. But be fore-warned: People dislike and feel “compelled” to undermine a disruptor, and even “justified” in doing so. After all, they are “destroying” something — usually a structure or a “way” things are done — that SOMEONE is benefitting GREATLY from maintaining. Trump and Sanders come to mind, when I look at how their OWN party treated them.
But if you’re still in…
if you’re READY to DISRUPT your own industry…
Because you’ve got something BETTER,
because you have something that WORKS,
because something CRITICAL has been being ignored for TOO LONG…
because you were BORN FOR THIS…
DO IT.
Show up,
speak your truth,
And DO NOT go away.
Don’t settle for short term shock-value stunts.
That’s for the mediocre masses…
Even an unruly toddler can garner attention in a grocery store by throwing a fit. You’re better than that.
Get in there and sell solutions.
Contrarian solutions that WORK.
Stay the course.
Trust me, it’ll catch on.
Still, you will NOT win any Miss Congeniality awards, so don’t expect them. And the “old timers” will resent the HELL out of you shaking things up. Those that followed the rules for ten years, kissing rings and doing whatever else will HATE that you show up and just catapulted to the top.
Do it ANYWAY.
Because you’ve got something to share.
A message, a modality, a solution that HELPS PEOPLE.
So, go ahead and disrupt.
For profit,
but mainly…. for the people you’ll serve.
P.S. Are you a Woman Who WOWS? NOW is the time to join us. womenwhowow.com.
