Further to my posting about the McKinsey article about seeking contradictory opinion, there’s an interesting new book on Amazon.Β It’s called “The Deniers” and contains articles from scientists challenging the paradigm of climate change.
Note that I say that the theory of climate change is now a paradigm. People that challenge paradigms are often ridiculed and professionally ostracised.
Before you get hysterical and start hyperventilating, it’s important to point out that I’m not a climate change sceptic. Please don’t try and burn me at a stake, or stone me.Β That would ruin my day.
The difference with the theory of climate change is that the stakes are too high to ignore it.Β If we disregard the theory – and it is a theory – then the planet as we know it will be a distant memory.Β That’s not a risk worth taking, no matter how highly regarded the nay-sayers are.
Why is this interesting from an innovation point of view? Watch the comments that this book receives, and see how much anger and disbelief it attracts. Paradigms are not easily changed, and assumptions not easily challenged.
Disruptive innovation tackles paradigms and assumptions head on.Β There will always be the sceptics, the doubters and the critics. Sometimes – but not always – the most ardent of these will be the ones you need to convince.Β In the majority of companies they’re usually the ones that site in the C-suite of your company.