“In general it is good practice to ask yourself whether your business model would still stand if you were starting your business today. If the answer is no, then beware of disruption.”

That's a challenging & thought provoking quote from Nick Parminter, CEO of Class35 in an interesting article titled 'Why don’t leaders get disruptive innovation?' published in Raconteur.

The article provides some excellent good food for thought - especially if you're in an established industry - with a lot of new competitors and where people are beginning to talk more urgently and with increasing frequency about innovation, disruption & digital transformation.

If you're an existing player in a market undergoing some disruptive innovation there's no need, according to the article, to panic. Three pragmatic courses of action are proposed.

1.Acknowledge the threat posed by the innovators / new market entrants and take steps to innovate yourself. Easier said than done but something that even the most established businesses must be prepared to do.

2.Put customers at the centre of your innovation strategy. Try new things, be prepared to make mistakes and collaborate with the start-up community and universities when exploring new ways to serve your customers.

3.Keep asking yourself the question posed by Nick Parminter and if the answer's 'No' - take action.