Innovation or Disruption?

The story: Everyone was in. "Let's innovate more this quarter" got sticky notes of enthusiasm from the whole room. Then she came back with a plan to become AI-first and revolutionise everything. He recoiled — he'd meant small process tweaks, not a complete overhaul. Same word, one person heard iteration, the other heard transformation.

What it means for organisations: "Innovation" is one of the most energising and least defined words in business. It can mean a new feature, a new process, a new business model, or scrapping everything and starting again. When teams commit to innovating without agreeing on the scale and scope, they don't just risk wasted effort — they risk one person's improvement becoming another person's crisis.