Are you using disruptive innovations?
Should I use disruptive innovations, you may ask? Indeed, you need to, if not get sat behind our society’s evolution. Technical development is going on, and the new digital world moving faster than ever.
So let’s start to understand what disruptive innovation is. The expression was introduced in today´s debate by the teacher and consultant Clayton M. Christensen. In a very simple way, you can say that it is:
“An innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market leaders and alliances.”
For example, when the car became achievable for normal average people, it replaced horse transportation and created a whole new market.
The agricultural revolution and, after that, the industrial revolution happen due to disruptive innovations. The industrial revolution is a movement improving production by replacing physical human labor with tools. Production got faster, cheaper, and with higher quality, which was an important milestone for economic growth.
The innovations we see today mainly focus on a digital lifestyle. We are making all bank transactions on the Internet without any reflections anymore. Tickets of all kinds you purchase via your laptop or smartphone. With Uber’s growth, ordinary taxis will soon be a chapter in the history books.
Automated Intelligence and you own digital lifestyle
The Internet of Things (IoT) also goes under the name of the next Industrial Revolution. It will change how all businesses, governments, and consumers interact with the physical world.
Here are some interesting data:
- There will be 34 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020, up from 10 billion in 2015.
- By 2006, 6% of the world population was connected to the Internet. For 2010, the figure grew to 26%; by 2020, almost 100% will be connected.
- Of the increasing growth of sales on the Internet, products, and services related to information and education amount to $126 million per day.
At the same time, you view those incredible figures the manufacturing, commerce, and public service continue to automate. By the year 2020, estimations say that almost 50% of today’s labor positions will be gone. The younger generations do not trust any longer in traditional education. A title from a well-known university some decades ago is no longer a sure entrance ticket into the labor market.
Every day you get offers in your email inbox about new applications allowing you to automate further your personal life. This continuing automation process gives you two important things when developing your own digital lifestyle:
More money and more time
In the same way, the Industrial Revolution scaled the global economy positively, this new digital revolution will do the same. We will get wealthier, and we will get more time.
Before taking advantage of all the changes coming along, there is one crucial threshold to sort out first.
Are you a chameleon or a dinosaur?
Like it or not, the digital revolution is happening here and now. We all have two alternatives to choose among:
- Not accepting the new way of doing business and automating consumer style. Instead, treating it as a short fashion wave that will soon die out – the dinosaur syndrome.
We all know what happened to the dinosaurs….
- Be a “chameleon”; these incredible animals change their skin color depending on the environment. Try your very best to take advantage of the new digital era.
Hurdles to defeat with your own digital lifestyle
If you belong to the big group of Baby Boomers, as I do, born between 1946 and 1964, there are certain hurdles to overcome.
The most important and also the most frequent reason to close out Baby Boomers from your own digital lifestyle has its roots in the education system we grew up with.
To give a professional opinion, advice, and treatment to a person suffering from any kind of disease or illness requires many years of medical studies at the University. “So, keep your hands off and do not even try to play the role of a doctor.”
To construct a bridge over a river, you need years of engineering skills. “So, why should you even bother to think about how to construct a bridge?”
To be a successful businessperson, you need years of economics and business administration studies from a well-reputed university or business school. “So,…..well, don’t think about it.”
Nobody will blame you for this way of thinking. It was the way we were educated and indoctrinated. Probably it was the best way to succeed at that time.
Times have changed, and the new digital world is different. Entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, who eagerly developed Windows and made it possible for regular people like you and me to enter the computer world, and Steve Jobs, who, with the same vision in mind, developed the first computer accessible for “normal” people, they have turned up-side-down the mindset to use.
Dinosaur thinking in your own digital lifestyle
To figure out if you fulfill the attributes of dinosaur thinking, you will defend yourself with the following set of answers to typical questions about the Internet and you own digital life:
“ The Internet is not for me. I’m too old for this.”
“ I never got the opportunity to learn these skills at school.”
“ My children and grandchildren use it because they are accustomed to it.”
“ This is something that will not survive for a long time.”
“ I don’t trust online payments.”
“ I prefer personal service.”
The list can be much longer, but you can probably see the pattern with these few examples.
The truth is that with the new and disruptive innovations in place, every single person on earth with access to a computer or any other Internet-connected device can be a digital “guru,” and you will be it sooner than you can imagine. But you need to change from a “dinosaur” mindset to one of a “chameleon.”
Long-term successful business and your own digital lifestyle
With the never-ending amount of offers on the Internet, all actors with a serious business future in mind need to consider at least three relevant variables to think for a bright long-term business:
- Safe payment method offered. If your credit card is hacked, you can close down your business immediately. Today it is safer to pay on the Internet than to use your credit card at an ordinary store or restaurant.
- With the keen competition online, every serious actor has to offer a complete money-back guarantee to the customer in case not being totally satisfied with the product or the service.
- The “on-the-go” training is essential to the success of the product or the service. And here, we find the most significant game changer from the old traditional education system. With $126 million in education and information applications sold daily, it wouldn’t happen without “on-the-go” training. It means that you literally can be up and running within minutes with your new application, and you learn further as you continue.
Baby Boomers – the Perfect Internet Marketers in Your Own Digital Lifestyle.
Although many view Baby Boomers as the postwar generation of opportunity and optimism, many Boomers worry about retirement and fail to prepare for the transition from work to retirement adequately.
Many Boomers plan to remain in the workforce beyond age 65 for various reasons, if for nothing more than a consistent income and a sense of identity.
Even if the income could be a reason to continue working after retirement (and indeed it’s a good and valid one), more available free time is another important cause. You would like to enjoy your retirement but work with something on your terms—something you love to do. Create your own digital lifestyle the way you prefer.
After erasing the “dinosaur” excuses completely, the next step to take is all about leveraging your passions in life. A recent global Gallup research found that only 20% of worldwide corporate employees felt a passion for what they were doing. Alarming figure!
Life is short, and there is no reason you shouldn’t enjoy every single day.
Live life on your terms with your own digital lifestyle
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