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IMD , my second alma mater, recently announced this year’s annual OWP program (“Orchestrating Winning Performance”) with the following cringe-worthy hook:
We live in an age of intense disruption & change. Are you ready for your next disruption?
And this got me thinking… let’s take a short walk through history and consider the ages in which this statement would be applicable:
- First Industrial Revolution: “We live in an age of intense disruption and change.” ✓
- World War I: “We live in an age of intense disruption and change.” ✓
- World War II: “We live in an age of intense disruption and change.” ✓
- Oil crises: “We live in an age of intense disruption and change.” ✓
- Japan’s impact on US companies in the 80s: “We live in an age of intense disruption and change.” ✓
- Globalization and outsourcing in the 90s: “We live in an age of intense disruption and change.” ✓
- Pre-dotcom hype: “We live in an age of intense disruption and change.” ✓
- Rise of FAANG in the 00s: “We live in an age of intense disruption and change.” ✓
- Now: “We live in an age of intense disruption and change.” ✓
Isn’t it about time that people realized that change is the only constant? Heraclitus figured it out thousands of years ago:
“The only constant in life is change.”
Why does “we live in an age of intense disruption and change” still count as some deep statement supposed to spur anyone to action?
Also, what is meant by this “disruption” word? Is it…
- the concept as defined and popularized by Clayton Christensen? Or, …
- one of the meaningless buzzwords everyone now puts on marketing material, CVs, and LinkedIn?
