Bad man Quote by Stefan Heck
““A company at the top of its game has accumulated a number of rules of thumb—implicit assumptions and beliefs about what has been central to its success. New technologies and business models belie or change some of those assumptions, but they only seem sensible if the management team can become aware of those implicit assumptions and mind-sets and suspend them for a moment to contemplate the change. It’s very hard to do that with the inherited wisdom, experience, and lore of a company. This is why the failures of incumbents to capture the benefits of disruptive innovations are a result not of bad managers, but of good managers practicing what they have done best. Incremental innovations can quickly be scaled and incorporated. Disruptive innovations require changes in customer sets, business models, or performance metrics that are no longer consistent with what led to success in the past.””
About This Quote
Incumbent firms struggle to abandon ingrained assumptions, making it hard to adopt disruptive innovations, whereas they can more easily scale incremental changes.
In simple terms: Existing firms resist change due to deep‑seated beliefs, hindering disruptive innovation.
Key Takeaway
Challenge assumptions to embrace disruption.
Themes
innovation
change management
disruption
incremental improvement
organizational inertia
Mood
analytical
cautious
Type
Bad man:0
Business:1
Business model:0
Disruptive innovation:1
Faith:0
Good man:0
Technology:0
Good Managers:0
Disruptive Innovations:1
Incremental Innovations:1
Incorporated Disruptive:0
Innovations Require:0
Innovations Result:0
When to use this quote
- business case studies
- executive training
- strategic consulting
Key Concepts
strategic management
business transformation
cognitive bias
Questions to Reflect On
- How can firms identify hidden assumptions?
- When is incremental change preferable?
