Blue Peepal

As the title suggests, the objective of the article is to question and debunk some of the hype around disruption talk. With disruption talk, I am referring to the deluge of literature and noise around economic and social impact of technology that extrapolates and exaggerates the real change.   Agreeably, over last few years disruption as a word has acquired serious currency as a marketing tool, policy input as well as strategic change to individuals and corporations. A boring slide in corporate presentation on competitive risk, if supplemented with that magical word, is enough to make people stay alert and maybe cringe.   The economic and emotional impact of disruption is well known – it can put countries, corporations, small enterprises and individuals in a state of scare, or wariness; and I am not touching upon automation, or artificial intelligence, but scenario of unemployment, going out of business and social unrest. As we know, fear sells faster than...

“Hi. I want to take a test drive.” “Certainly, Sir. Can I please get your name and number?” The lady at the car dealership in her usual nonchalance picked up the sales register, opened to the page that had neat columns and mostly illegible handwriting; only the contact number in each row, was clearly readable. “I am Harsh, the number can wait.” The lady looked up; her experience dissuaded her from insisting for the contact number. She dialed a number. “Sir, there is a customer looking for a test drive. The car has gone out, and no other car available now. Can I send the customer to your office?” “Sir, please come this way.” The glass door opened to a room, where the temperature made Harsh look at the airconditioner. 16 degrees. “Sir, I am Matthews.” The business card had his photo, taken at least a decade back. It read Branch Head. “Matthews, I a...