Breaking the Norm: CEOs Changing the Way Industries Function

Every nation that appreciates competition would need disruptors which are responsible for breaking barriers in the industry’s sea. These people are courageous in their attempts to defy ideas, break wind forces, and recreate possibilities since they are regarded as the ruling outsiders. This disruption does not solely pertain to the technology or marketplace; it is primarily about the way of thinking that looks beyond the limits, transforms the concepts and devises solutions to the problems. Disruptors are changing the economy of every country, changing the game system and changing the social world in which companies promote their goods and services to customers.

And so this is how disruption comes to be – it is conceptualized as a concept that facilitates the resolution of issues that traditional constructs such as corporates and other institutions has been crippled to resolve. The change brought by disruptors in the consumer star has been discovered in the transportation, technology, healthcare, and finance sectors. An illustration would be appropriate here in the transportation industry. Uber and Lyft were forced to revolutionize the taxi industry through the use of technology to transport their customers instead of creating another use of transportation. The need for transportation was made readily available to all drivers, riders, and stream platforms.

In a similar vein, the entertainment industry has indeed been transformed thanks to subscription based streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify. They have also begun to take over from traditional cable and DVD distributors by providing services that are made available to customers when they are desired and tailored to the consumer’s needs. Their impact does not only stop on the final user satisfaction; their influence can be found in every link of the content creation, dissemination and post creation monetization chain. Creators and artists can now reach native audiences all over the world without the need for gatekeepers – monopolies and franchises – and open different ways for revenue.

Disruptors emphasize the social and environmental responsibility communities to be more ethical advocating for the planet and for society’s goals. In fashion, a case in point, Everlane and Patagonia have disrupted conventional supply chains by emphasizing transparency among the manufacturers, fairness at the workplace and environment friendly supplies. These companies have changed the criteria for the measure of success in fashion as these have shown that profitability does not exclude sustainability. These new entrants have set in motion new benchmarks that force incumbents to be more responsible making the impact of disruption visible.

Healthcare as a whole has had its fair share of disruption in recent times, quite unlike the rest of its history where it was mostly against rapid change. The onset of Telehealth platforms, health wearables, as well as artificial intelligent diagnostics helped address the issues that plagued the industry. Medical firms like Teladoc Health and Babylon health enable patients in a whole new manner as they can now consult with a doctor or be monitored through a phone call, all within the confines of their house. Such innovation proves beneficial as it seeks to address an array of systemic problems the patients face, whether that be poorer outcomes or bad geographical efforts.

With such Innovations, Disruption becomes all the more easier, and one of the most pronounced forms of disruption comes in the form of providing great power to the consumers. Among the many industries that are a part of the conventional landscape, a lot of them follow strict rules and structures where a lot isn’t negotiable or open to changes. Unlike Disruptors, they recognize the needs and requirements of their clients or customers and make it the direst priority. For instance if we consider, PayPal, Square and, Robinhood, as fintech companies focusing in the financial industry, they have made the once exclusive reach of banking, payment, and investment to the masses. When we contrast these companies with traditional brick and mortar chains, these Companies have been able to enable users to take a hold of their financial future by lowering operational prices and consolidating operations.

The rallying up of disruptors has been, in part, backdrop by the increase of connectivity and technology. The availability of the internet, smartphones and cloud computing has enabled new players to come on board and grow decently within a short span of time and service a wider audience. Services such as Amazon Web Services and Shopify give ready-made packages for entrepreneurs thus allowing them to start and expand businesses without having to invest much in the beginning. This provisioning of factors has lead to a surge in the innovation cycle enabling disruptors to better serve the incumbents.

Disruption however has its own share of challenges and controversies. Change can in most cases happen at a fast rate depending on the environment and change can equally cause uncertainty and fear especially in populations who feel threatened by the new technology or business model. Incumbent players resort to seeking protection through legal or regulatory means in an effort to maintain their positions when competition starts to emerge. There exists a tension in the challenge of finding new ideas and the fairness, security and society impacts of them.

For a Disruptor to thrive, it is quintessential for them to engage with the ecosystem at a micro level and establish a bond with the stakeholders. While innovation and agile nature is important, in the long run they would also have to be business savvy and able to build compliant businesses. For instance, during the time of bringing new energy context building into the automotive sector, Tesla inflamed the industry by being one of the first to manufacture electric vehicles and new forms of energy. That isn’t to say that they did not face any problems; they had supply chain issues, heavyweight competition, and had to comply with a lot of regulations. In spite of all these factors, the company has still managed to keep its place as the shifting force in the industry, by learning how to distinguish between creation and overdoing it.

The education sector is another, that is being tremendously disrupted and this time, due to the advent of online learning platforms and alternate credentialing systems. New wavers such as Coursera, Udemy, and Khan academy are revolutionizing the approach students take towards tertiary education, in turn, enabling the worldwide populace to learn more affordably. Professional courses or personal enrichment, there is something for everyone on these platforms that can accommodate different learning styles through technology and modular content. The scope of these PSE providers does not center on the learner only; they are also encouraging traditional providers to reconsider their approach and change their delivery to more digital-focused models.

The quote by me is a proof that the retail sector is going through a huge transformation. In addition to offering consumers a “one-stop” shopping experience at lower prices and with a wider selection, e-commerce companies like Amazon and Alibaba have completely changed the way consumers do their shopping. Direct to dealers brands, such as Warby Parker & Glossier have also redefined the sale point by bypassing the intermediaries in their chain and dealing genuinely with customers. These brands harness the power of data fusion, and storytelling strategy use for interactive marketing campaigns targeted to least paying customers creating new baselines for loyalty.

Where there is progress there is a way, and this way is always the same, it does not depend on the place and culture in which it goes, which means there is no specific set of industries, geography for such profiles. Emerging markets are failing in the competition, and their startups are making use of these opportunities and innovating their way into solving local problems at a bigger scale. M-Pesa in Kenya, for instance, has radically transformed mobile banking for the unbanked. These are just some of the disruption strategies with the potential to accelerate economic growth and enhance the quality of life in the targeted markets.

As disruptive forces shake up the business world, their defining features of what it means to be a successful business is changing too. Being profitable is important, but so is the sense of purpose and innovation and social impact. Disruptors are redefining the standards that businesses set for their goals, changing the measurements of success, and in the process motivating most to be more ambitious. Their reach is beyond the mark, and their effects inspire dialogues on the future of work, sustainability, the usage of technology, and so much more.

In the final analysis, the princesses of the disruptors represent a stark reminder of the leap that exists in humanity’s creativity, inventiveness, and imagination. These innovators show that sector is fluid, not a monotonic dead end, but living, able to self-calculate and reconstruct. Disruptors pave the way upwards the creation of change-a-wider inclusive, more just and sustainable society. Their track is filled with possibilities and failures for achieving that goal, however their imagination and empathy are constructive to corporations and trusts and people too.

The tale of change is not yet defined, it is still forming itself, and it will continue to form itself in ways never thought of. While industries advance and there’s a shift in scenarios, it would still be the disruptors who are ahead, breaking limits and recreating what is thinkable. In the process of this, they make it clear to us that advancement comes from those who choose to dreams of a different path ahead.