Disruptive Innovation: What Causes the Creative Leap?

Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Rick Mueller, Professor, United States, SIG Leader
Srini, there's an "old saying" in the US that "necessity is the mother of invention". I believe there may be some truth in that.

Add to that the concept of the "Burning Platform" to create the desired necessity and you get some creative solutions to the problem.

Sometimes the solution is to put out the fire. These are your every-day solution - which Clay Christensen calls "sustaining innovations" (to differentiate them from disruptive innovations).

Sometimes the solution to the burning platform problem is to create a new platform sufficiently distant from the old platform (Editor: see Forget, Borrow, Learn) as to reduce/eliminate the possibility of being followed by the fire. To build a new platform and simultaneously learn how to maintain oneself on it is a pretty difficult trick for an established firm with its many mouths to feed, so for that reason it is best to have one or more alternative platforms under construction at all times.

Thoughts?

Necessity is the Mother of Invention
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The Hole in the Box
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One More Element: Timing
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Where Having More Can Result in Getting Less
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Just Right Works
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Success is not So Much what You Get But Rather what You do with what You've Got
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Independent Innovation Unit
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I Thought we Were Looking for the Quantum Leap?
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Quantum Leap Process Remains Same?
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