Disrupt or get disrupted. Problem solvers own your future.

Ever since reading the book ‘Fast Food Nation’ in secondary school I became obsessed with the assembly line manufacturing approach.

The book (if you haven’t read it I highly recommend it) talks about the rapid growth of fast food companies amongst American consumers.

The bit that really caught me, was the shift in thinking from the McDonald’s brothers. Who took their kitchen and completely changed it from a traditional restaurants kitchen to one that was efficient and lean and better for the customer. Instead of individuals assembling entire burgers, the process was split in to tasks assigned to individuals (one person cooked the patties while another just added the ketchup). They also changed traditional fast food serving methods (traditionally people stayed in cars while waiters attached trays of food to the side) to a get it yourself method with simplified disposable packaging.

They were inspired by the assembly line used by car manufacturers, often associated with Henry Ford. The methodology is simple, a product moves slowly down a line, while specialists add parts repetitively. One persons job may be to just add tires to every car that comes down the line while another just adds the engine. This idea of people focused on performing one repetitive task sped up the production and reduced the time to finish a car to just under 3 hours.

Ford implemented this as early as 1920 and it quickly become the standard way to produce cars at scale. It had multiple benefits, including reduced production time, increased specialised labour (through repetitive skills) and an overall leaner approach to a clustered factory.

If this approach was so great why did no else adopt this strategy in other industries? It seems so obvious to do so now. Especially after seeing the insane growth of fast food companies who adopted this method world wide.

Multiple enviable methodologies exist today in various industries but we don’t copy them for our own good. In adopting the assembly line approach the McDonald’s brothers had become disruptors in their industry. The biggest beneficiary of this disruption was the customer, who waited less time and paid less for food.

The McDonald’s brothers were problem solvers looking for ways to make the process easier for their customer. They were solving a problem the customers had but couldn’t clearly vocalise.

We can’t disrupt, because we’re not trying to solve problems for our customers, we’re not putting them first. We do things the way they’ve always been done, we are complacent and want to keep things ticking steadily. We’re not really interested in scaling, in immense growth, especially growth that will disrupt our business model.

Disruptive business aren’t based on completely new models or ideas. They take existing ones and make it better for the user.

Even companies like Facebook took existing real world social networking theories and applied it online (I know I’m simplifying what they do). The methods of delivery for products has changed by demand, but not the core product itself.

Disruption has been key for a long time but we don’t fully understand disruption. It’s not just a robot taking our job. Disruption could be the slightest change in an industry borrowed from another that sends one company on an insane growth trajectory. While some adapt and catch up, others don’t change and die. Disruption is necessary for people, and it can be implemented by you.

Something that I find is the key point holding back disruption and stellar growth is protecting existing revenue models and lack of a problem solving mentality. We make money one way and we can’t figure out how to do it another way so we’re not going to do it. Even worse is when a new model emerges and instead of working with it we spend money, time, and effort fighting it, under the name of “revenue protection”.

Remember the music and movie. industry wasting time, effort, and money suing individuals downloading films and music? All in the name of revenue protection. Instead of addressing the issue by building new distribution models. All because they made money from cd’s and dvd’s and couldn’t bare to change that model.

Often times the disruptors have to leave future revenue models to chance as a slight risk, but when the revenue does finally arrive it does so like a crashing wave.

Why did the McDonald’s brothers do what they did, to ultimately make things better for the customer, they gave them faster food, consistency, and Lower prices.

To disrupt you need to do what’s best for your customers, the people that actually interact with and pay you. Not what’s in the best interest of the business at the cost of the customer.

Stop protecting existing revenue models and adapt to the changing habits of the consumer. Better yet, foresee the change and bring it for them. If you don’t, your competitors will, or a quirky startup, noticing your inefficiency, will remove all of you from the market.

Disruptors disrupt because they put the user first. They solve problems for their users. They understand that businesses have a limited life span unless they constantly adapt.

Be there for people and they’ll be there for you, show them some loyalty and they’ll show you some back. Disrupt your own business for your customers benefit and they’ll reward you with their custom.

Simply put, always always always, put your users first.

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