Disruption: Typically a verb used to convey an annoying interference to your normal programming. Things we usually associate with disruption:

•    Commercials—non-Super Bowl, of course
•    Parents and/or Children—depending on what stage of life you’re at
•    Heavy metal bands that practice in the garage next door at 3 a.m.—unless you’re in said heavy metal band or really enjoy nocturnal head-banging

But, as every fitness trainer knows, disruption is also crucial to sustained growth, agility and creating impact. Brands looking to achieve these goals should take heed.

How often do you hear someone ask what you don’t like about their product? Our guess—Not very.

Most companies treat criticism like it’s the plague. And because they avoid looking at their organization and products honestly, they end up spending a good deal of money covering up defects instead of on front-end resources that create ultimate success. 

We can’t help but shake our heads at the futility of that mentality.

Somewhere between the global economy hitting the brakes and the explosion of real-time feedback loops on the Internet, the way we traditionally did business was turned on its head.

The top-down model—where elite brands picked what colors would be hot next season, what news was important and what consumers really wanted—has pretty much been blown to bits. In its place now stands a construction project, being built from the bottom up—and by the way, no one knows what the finished product will look like, much less whether it will ever be complete.