Disruptive Leadership

How many companies these days can create the buzz that Apple does when they announce a new product line? Having disrupted, transformed and gained leadership positions in the markets for music players and mobile phones, some are wondering if Apple will do the same to the markets for notebooks/netbooks and e-readers with it’s new iPad.

Steve Jobs certainly is targeting netbooks, stating at the iPad launch that “they’re not better at laptops than anything, they’re just cheaper.” CNet ran an interesting article, “10 things Netbooks still do better than an iPad.” Of these 10 reasons, I think the most interesting was the keyboard issue. While the iPad has a built-in touch keyboard similar to the one on the iPhone, it will be very difficult to use on your lap, on a table, or while you’re moving. Apple has provided an optional keyboard dock to address this, but at an additional cost.

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If you haven’t read Outliers, or Malcom Gladwell’s previous books The Tipping Point and Blink, you are missing out on some of the most insightful, entertaining, and mind-opening dissections of human behavior.  In Outliers, Gladwell explains what makes a person extraordinarily successful.

Here is the Cliffs Note version:

• You need a minimum level of smarts, but not “off-the-chart” IQ.
• You have to put at least 10,000 hours of practice into your area of talent or expertise.
• You have to be lucky, meaning born at the right place and the right time.

The last point I found most fascinating.  It is made of up several dynamics.   When were you born is crucial.  Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were born in the mid-50’s, allowing them to be at the right age when information technology was in its nascent stage of development.

But the “where were you born” dynamic that I found most interesting was Gladwell’s findings on the impact of culture.

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The year started with the Mother of All Disruptions as the world teetered toward economic and financial collapse. The technology industry withered in general due to lack of demand. Intel, for example, reported its first loss in 21 years in the second quarter.  As we head in to 2010, things seem to be on the mend, albeit slowly.

I thought I’d jump on the new near “top trends” bandwagon and provide some observations of my own for information technology for development (ICT4D).

Netbook fever and 1:1 computing in education begin to fade into the background.

Ever since Nicholas Negroponte launched the One Laptop per Child project and Intel followed with the Classmate PC, the buzz has been about netbooks for classrooms, or 1:1 computing (one computer for each student).  The reality is that the majority of netbooks sold are not sold to schools, but to middle class  consumers who are looking for a smaller notebook form-factor.  In my 2009 travels, ministries of education in Latin America seemed to be the most notebook centric.  Peru had purchased 150,000 XO laptops.  Chile wouldn’t even consider anything that wasn’t mobile.  As governments’ emerge from budget lockdown, I predict that they will look for more affordable and realistic options, such as PC labs and desktop computing.

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Over the last five years, the public and private sectors have introduced a plethora of initiatives aimed at bridging the digital divide and bringing computers to underserved markets.

Intel launched the World Ahead program in 2006, a sweeping initiative to encompass all activities Intel was driving to bridge the digital divide.  Microsoft launched Unlimited Potential in 2007. AMD was ahead of the curve, introducing 50×15 in 2005.

International and regional development agencies have also gotten into the game.  The United Nations introduced the UN Global Alliance for ICT Development (UN GAID) in 2006. Africa had the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD), which included bringing ICT to schools throughout Africa.

There are many more public and private initiatives, but I will use these few to answer the question: have these initiatives, having been in place for five years or more, made an impact accelerating ICT for Development?

My view?  Mixed. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Any blogger worth his or her salt has a Google Alert set to the title of their respective blog.  Today I was referred to a brand new course at UC Berkeley on Disruptive Leadership.  The abstract is below.

Managers work in a world where expectations are off the charts, commitments are tenuous, priorities shift, and responsibility is given with marginal authority. In this highly interactive course, learn proven disruptive leadership practices to keep your customers out of harm’s way, leverage personal strengths, stimulate creative solutions, and inspire innovation. Learn how to apply out-of-the-box management techniques to solve performance problems, promote creativity, encourage innovative thinking in your team, improve communication, and unleash your personal potential.

A pretty good description of disruptive leadership from a management development perspective.  Disruption can always be a good thing.