Balancing the need for stability with the push for transformation is one of the toughest challenges facing leaders today. How do you foster innovation without leaving your team overwhelmed and unfocused? This question was the heart of Monitor’s final livestream of 2024, “The Disruption Dilemma: How to Drive Innovation Without Derailing Your Team.”
Hosted by Deb Reuben, CEO and Founder of TomorrowZone®, and featuring innovation strategist Eileen Schoonmaker, the discussion was a masterclass in navigating this delicate balance. Here’s what we learned about leading with vision while keeping your team grounded.
The Art of Change That Matters
Eileen opened with a beautifully simple way to think about disruption and innovation:
Disruption is just change. Innovation is change that matters to someone.
This reframing puts the focus where it belongs—on the people impacted by innovation. It’s not about adopting the latest technology for its own sake. It’s about identifying what creates meaningful value for your team, customers, and industry. This perspective is especially powerful when paired with the 70/20/10 rule: Spend 70% of your energy maintaining the core business, 20% improving and evolving what already works, and 10% on bold, “big bet” moves aimed at the future.
The key to that last 10%? Ask yourself, What could disrupt or kill our business in the next decade? Innovation isn’t just about solving today’s problems — it’s about anticipating tomorrow’s.
Future-Ready Thinking with TomorrowZone’s Framework
Deb introduced TomorrowZone’s proprietary four-step framework for future-focused planning. At its heart is the recognition that change happens exponentially, not incrementally. Think about it: The technologies and societal shifts we’re grappling with today were unthinkable just five years ago.
The framework invites leaders to slow down and reflect:
- Understand the Pace of Change: Exponential change means you need to stay agile, not reactive.
- Identify Forces of Change: Examine trends across societal, technological, environmental, economic, and political dimensions.
- Choose Technologies to Explore: Build a watchlist of innovations that could reshape your industry.
- Imagine the Future: Envision different scenarios and assess your readiness for each.
Here’s the kicker: You don’t need to carve out entire days to “get into the TomorrowZone.” Even 20 focused minutes a week to analyze trends and visualize possibilities can spark transformational ideas. It’s less about the time you spend and more about making future thinking a habit.
Innovation is a Process, Not an Event
Both Deb and Eileen emphasized that innovation isn’t something you schedule into a one-off project. It’s a practice and a habit —a process of questioning assumptions, trying new approaches, and yes, learning from failure.
Eileen challenged the audience to reconsider ideas that were previously dismissed. Sometimes timing is everything, and what didn’t work before might succeed under new circumstances.
Deb reframed failure itself, describing it as “learning forward.” She encouraged leaders to look back at past initiatives with curiosity: What worked? What didn’t? What could we do differently next time?
Why Diversity and Dialogue Matter More Than Ever
True innovation, the kind that disrupts markets and inspires teams, thrives on diverse perspectives. This was another powerful theme of the discussion. If everyone at the table thinks the same way, your solutions will be limited by a single worldview. Innovation demands input from every stakeholder—including your customers.
But diversity alone isn’t enough. You also need real dialogue. As Deb put it, “Listen to understand, not just to respond.” Creating a safe space where people feel heard and valued isn’t just a feel-good exercise—it’s the foundation of lasting transformation.
The Human Side of Change
Technology might power the future, but people are the ones who make it happen—or resist it. If your innovation efforts don’t account for the human side of change, they’ll struggle to gain traction. Leaders must navigate the messy, emotional reality of innovation with empathy and care.
Both Deb and Eileen stressed the importance of addressing the human impact of change. Innovation is exciting, but it can also be unsettling. Employees may fear losing relevance, autonomy, or stability. If those fears aren’t addressed, even the most brilliant strategies can fail. As a leader, your job is to build trust, foster collaboration, and guide your team through uncertainty.
What’s Next for You?
Leading through change requires clarity of vision and the courage to act. Whether it’s carving out time for future-focused thinking, reframing failure as a step toward growth, or empowering your team to contribute their best ideas, the actions you take today will define your impact tomorrow. Partner with TomorrowZone to unlock bold strategies and actionable insights that transform your ideas into reality. Let’s get started.
