Summary: While most companies focus on Sustaining Innovation (making existing products better), really successful companies branch into Disruptive Innovation and create new products or make existing products available to those who don't have access to them. It seems like a win-win situation since the only competition to disruptive innovation is non-consumption; when the product is something like green energy provided to developing nations, this is unquestionably a good thing for the consumer and for the provider. However, as our guest Clayton Christensen warns, these innovations take years to germinate. Businesses who wait until they are in the red to start thinking about Disruptive Innovation are already too late. No matter how your company is faring, it's never too soon to think about your disruptive innovation. Clayton Christensen is the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches one of the most popular elective classes for second year students, Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise. He is regarded as one of the worldrsquo;s top experts on innovation and growth and his ideas have been widely used in industries and organizations throughout the world. Clay is the best-selling author of nine books and more than a hundred articles. His first book, The Innovatorrsquo;s Dilemma received the Global Business Book Award as the best business book of the year (1997); and in 2011 The Economist named it as one of the six most important books about business ever written. For additional training on this topic, consider these AMA seminars: *Creativity and Innovation: Unleash Your Potential for Greater Success *Solving Complex Business Challenges with Critical Thinking Techniques *High-Impact Decision Making: Reducing Risk, Maximizing Results To learn more, read these AMACOM Books: *Innovation at Work, by Richard Brynteson *The Innovation Killer, by Cynthia Barton Rabe *The New Human Capital Strategy, by Bradley W. Hall, Ph.D.
