25. • challenge the status quo
• ask difficult questions
• take risks
• assume contradictions
• learn from deviance
• ask ‘what if’
• think like a beginner
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28.
29.
30.
31.
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33. What was most valuable for you?
What will you do with this information?
Who will you tell?
June 2008, Blackberry shares = $144. Today = $7.75. In 2009, Fortune magazine called Blackberry, ‘the fastest growing company in the world’
hands up: how many of you currently use a Blackberry smartphone? how many of you used to?
so popular it was referred to as ‘Crackberry’, remember that? and yes, people even had a Crackberry tattooed on their body.
then this happened. a disruptor entered the market from a company with a disruptor at the helm. RIM co-founder: ‘they put a Mac inside a smartphone’
how many of you have rented accommodation through Airbnb somewhere in the world? 5 hotels closed in Montreal this year while the city council struggles to figure out how to deal with a company that received a $25.5bn valuation in July.
how many of you have used Uber? The taxi industry is being completely disrupted while Uber received the highest valuation ever for a venture-backed company earlier this year at $51bn
digital disruption is moving at a breakneck speed and companies who don’t board the train, will be left behind to die. this gives the HR world its most important task to date: hiring disruptors
So who are the disruptors? Those who challenge the status quo. status quo never = progress, innovation
seek candidates/employees who ask the difficult questions. why? difficults Q’s get to the heart of the matter + lead to innovative solutions
who’s taking risks? hire them because risk leads to progress. risk leads to mistakes. a company avoids risk while simultaneously writing its epitaph
grab the person who assumes contradictions. the person who doesn’t let the tyranny of the word ‘or’ bother them because they explore both options before moving forward. contradiction is at the core of imagination
learns from deviance – bypass beauracracy, takes shortcuts through hierarchy, bends rules = leads to unconventional but creative results
practice ‘what if’. what if you don’t hire disruptors? I bet Kodak, Blockbuster and Blackberry could answer that for you without hesitation. what if you don’t take risks? what if your HR policies could save your company from an Uber or Airbnb?
beginner vs expert = beginners see possibilities, experts see few. (repeat) candidate doesn’t know anything about your company or industry? great! hire them!
the founders of napster and the pirate bay should not have been threatened with nor given jail time, they should be hired as the Chief Disruption Officers. they are talented, visionary, creative disruptors
these smart, innovative, risk-taking disruptors should be given one mandate: to form a startup within your company with one goal in mind – to bring down the company. imagine how much you’d learn!
how will you attract these talented people who have multiple opportunities laid out before them? not with boring, old-school job postings that talk about qualifications rather than opportunities and challenges
and the first risk I suggest? In your next job posting add this asterisked note: resumes without a descriptive list of mistakes will be shredded instantly
maybe you need to disrupt HR. you can ask more ‘what ifs’. you can think like a beginner again with fresh eyes. you can learn from deviance and take risks. you can help future-proof your company against digital disruption by hiring disruptors