Status-Q

I like Clayton Christensen. He oughtn’t to be an interesting speaker, by many of the standard metrics: he speaks slowly and haltingly, he stumbles over words, and he uses unexciting slides with little aesthetic appeal. And yet I think he’s brilliant.

This is partly because what he has to say is very important, and partly because he has a wonderfully dry, understated sense of humour which seeps out throughout the talk and can be exceedingly funny.

His talk last month at the Gartner Symposium is particularly good, and you can watch it here. If you’re in business, I recommend curling up on the sofa with your iPad for an hour.

This is a crash course for those who know the term ‘disruptive technology’ but have never heard its originator explain it. It asks questions about how we measure profits. It suggests we are often mistaken in the way we understand customers, and that our competitors may not be who we think they are. It explains milkshakes.

This could have been three or four very boring business talks, and somehow turns out to be one very compelling one. Recommended.