Thursday, December 15, 2011

Buzzword 2011.8 - Disruption





Disruption is the new black. Clayton Christensen began the authorial trend with his management classics on disruptive innovation. He’s gone on to “disrupt” health and class. I contributed to the meme with Disrupting Philanthropy: Technology and the Future of the Social Sector. Others have written on disrupting homelessness, media, technology, and manufacturing. 


Here's a report from the Alliance for Children and Families called Disruptive Forces: Driving a Human Services Revolution

Disruption may soon replace innovation as the most overused and underdefined term in the social economy.

You can find other buzzwords in Blueprint 2012. The 2011 list so far includes:


Buzzwords 2011


.1 Social Impact Bond
.2 Collective Impact
.3 Storytelling
.4 Charitable Tax Reform
.5 Infographics
.6 Evidence-based
.7 Shapeshifting

1 comment:

Bradford Smith said...

Definitely a 2011 buzzword. Sometimes I think "disruption" is the new "re-invention" but "disruption" implies a more violent and radical process than a liesurely re-think. I was struck the other day in a planning session at the Foundation Center, when one of the staff remarked that we need to be disrupting ourselves. This could be a new indicator for healthy organizations: the ability to disrupt from within.