Clay Christiansen Responds: Disruptive Innovation Under Fire

We said we’d keep you posted about developments in the Disruption debate that’s blown up in the last few days.

Well we’re pleased to be able to inform you that Clay Christiansen has responded with a video interview for the Harvard Business Review.

This is a really interesting addition to the discussion that’s been developing. Christiansen makes two nuanced points about the Lepore article we wrote about last week.

1. He welcomes the article’s attack on the widespread appropriation and misuse of his term disruption.

2. He then criticises Lepore’s decision to blame him for this phenomenon. He upbraids her for ignoring the subsequent literature to his original theory — which he claims has used the anomalies she highlights to to actually propel his theory forward and beyond itself.

Fascinating video. We wholeheartedly recommend you check it out.

Where do you stand on this issue? Let us know what you think?