For the past several years we have watched as industry after industry has disrupted and forced to evolve. Be it the hotel sector impacted by Airbnb, or the taxi service changed by Uber and Lyft. But there has also been disruption in the commercial real estate industry, thanks to coworking, WeWork, and changes to the design profession are emerging as well. Not only are we witnessing the evolution of how and where people work, how space is leased, but how workspace is designed and built out is changing as well. We need to embrace the potential for disruption being brought forth and proactively rethinking how we can best serve our clients, companies and the workforce. We need to innovate and evolve. Otherwise, this might be our Kodak moment.
Kodak is the ultimate example of a company that went out of existence because it failed to realize the shifts in the market and user demands. Corporate real estate companies and the design industry face that prospect if we don’t recognize the shifts that are already occurring and seize the moment. From the need to go beyond just being sustainable to understanding user expectations; from how technology is evolving and impacting the workplace to the need to innovate; from ownership to access. As Stephen Shapiro noted, “When the pace of change outside your organization is greater than the pace of change within, you will be eaten.” The challenge is to look beyond today and see what lies ahead so we can adapt accordingly.
Not all innovation is disruption, but it’s important to know the signs for when it is.
Progressive innovation is the natural evolution of an existing idea or concept. Progression typically happens in small increments that often go unnoticed over time.
Non-disruptive creation happens when a new problem or opportunity is introduced, but the existing systems stay in place.
Disruption creation happens when there is a breakthrough to an existing idea or change that challenges the status quo. It often emerges when someone introduces a cheaper, faster or better way of doing something altogether that makes the existing method obsolete. The music industry, hotel sector, retail stores and movie industry have all been rocked by disruptive innovation. Disruptive creation embraces the philosophy that ‘Different is better than good, but different and good are better than the best.
The Four Industrial Revolutions:
1st Industrial Age Steam – 1784
2nd Information Age Electricity – 1870
3rd Human Era Digital – 1969
4th Cognitive Era Cyber – 2016
Each prior revolution has sparked fears of redundancy, ushered in a need for new skills, fresh approaches and innovative ways of thinking. But we have lived through and thrived after each era, thought it may not have been easy at first. What makes the era we’re living through today unique is the rapid pace of change and the vast number of industries being disrupted simultaneously, to the point that at times it seems never-ending and overwhelming.
Technology is the biggest disruptor today. Sixty percent of business leaders said they struggled to respond to disruption and only 21 percent of them believed they had the internal expertise and talent to deal with disruptive technologies. Companies that proactively embrace new technology and digital transformation have a 50 percent higher return on investment than those doing so reactively. Emerging technologies have the potential to reshape how we approach work and the design of the workplace and position savvy companies with a distinct competitive advantage.