Clay Christensen became famous by coining Disruption Theory – which concerns how a low cost or smaller industry entrant gains traction in a market and grows to dominance over time.
His colleague, Whitney Johnson applied Disruption Theory to her own career when she moved from being a Secretary for a retail sales broker to work as an Analyst with a major Wall Street investment bank. That move might have been big enough for most, but she disrupted it again from being a leading Cement and Construction Analyst to morphing in to becoming a leading Media Analyst.
How could you disrupt your career?
Develop your capability before you need it.
Almost every profession and industry has experienced some form of disruption.
Look at what is happening within the advertising and media industry. There is a downturn in demand for traditional media buyers. Yet, there has been an acceleration in opportunities for people with social media expertise.
Ask yourself:
- Which functions are being replaced by technology, or are being outsourced or offshored?
- Which job functions plateauing with little career progression being made by people in those functions?
- Which job functions where people are progressing and careers are accelerating?
Answers to these provide clues for you to proactively develop new capability before you might need and therefore futureproof your career.
Are you stuck in your career but do not know where you should begin?
Here are 6 tips to help you move forward:
- Ask what are your key strengths?
- Ask what do you do well that others in your profession do not?
- Ask what are the things that uplift you?
- Ask whether you are applying these uplifting things day-to-day at work?
- Ask what frustrates you that you believe you could do better?
- Ask what compliments you receive from people that you dismiss?
Answers to these questions can help you disrupt your own career and have you develop capability to futureproof your career.
See links to Whitney Johnson’s book, “Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work”. Click here for Kindle Edition and Hardcover.
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About the author:
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Greg Weiss is one of Australia’s most renowned career coaches. He is the author of “So You Got A Job, WTF Is Next”. The book prescribes a proven, practical 7 step guideline for new employees so they succeed, rather than fail their probation periods and beyond. Find out more about the book at https://www.wtfisnext.wtf/
He is the Founder and Director of Onboff an online training and coaching platform that helps HR specialists, coaches and recruiters to deliver exceptional onboarding and offboarding experiences for employees.
Greg also hosts The Keep: The Employee Experience podcast and runs CareerSupport365.
