Click the photo to see it at full size.
The photo above has been making the rounds on LinkedIn and Twitter, and I thought that it was worth repeating here.
Here’s the text written on the whiteboard:
- Amazon didn’t kill the retail industry. They did it to themselves with bad customer service.
- Netflix did not kill Blockbuster. They did it to themselves with ridiculous late fees.
- Uber did not kill the taxi industry. They did it to themselves by limiting the number of taxis and with fare control.
- Apple did not kill the music industry. They did it to themselves by forcing people to buy full-length albums.
- AirBnB did not kill the hotel industry. They did it to themselves by limited availability and pricing options.
Technology itself is not the real disrupter…
Being non-customer centric is the biggest threat to any business.
In case you were wondering “Is it spelled disrupter or disruptor?”, it appears that either is an acceptable spelling.
Garrett Serack’s good counterexamples
Garrett, whom I know from my days at Microsoft, pointed out a couple of counterexamples on Twitter:
Two counter-examples to this: Airline Industry and Cable Industry. Very bad customer service, no change in technology — no business change.
— Garrett Serack (@fearthecowboy) June 26, 2017
And he followed up that tweet with this:
I think the technology was at least a *catalyst* for change. Except for Blockbuster–that was clearly buggy-whip-displacement.
— Garrett Serack (@fearthecowboy) June 26, 2017