Thinkers50 Management Thinker of 2015 Whitney Johnson wants you to consider this simple, yet powerful, idea: disruptive companies and ideas upend markets by doing something truly different—they see a need, an empty space waiting to be filled, and they dare to create something for which a market may not yet exist.
As president and cofounder of Rose Park Advisors’ Disruptive Innovation Fund with Clayton Christensen, Johnson used the theory of disruptive innovation to invest in publicly traded stocks and private early-stage companies. In Disrupt Yourself, she helps you understand how the frameworks of disruptive innovation can apply to your particular path, whether you are:
a self-starter ready to make a disruptive pivot in your business
a high-potential individual charting your career trajectory
a manager looking to instill innovative thinking amongst your team
a leader facing industry changes that make for an uncertain future
We are living in an era of accelerating disruption; no one is immune. Johnson makes the compelling case that managing the S-curve waves of learning and mastery is a requisite skill for the future. If you want to be successful in unexpected ways, follow your own disruptive path. Dare to innovate. Do something astonishing. Disrupt yourself.
A disruptor of ideas and wielder of influence, Whitney Johnson uses her talent to build movements. Having immersed her life and studies in the idea of personal disruption, this innovator and former institutional investor-ranked Wall Street analyst infuses communications with a palpable business story.
Whether speaking at corporations and universities, contributing at international conferences, blogging for Harvard Business Review or tweeting 140-character messages, her prolific insights on personal disruption, disruptive innovation, and startups are imbibed and shared by tens of thousands of loyal followers.
Whitney is the author of the acclaimed Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream. She has been named on numerous Smart Thinkers and People to Follow lists by major media such as Inc. Magazine, Business Insider and Huffington Post and is quoted in Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fast Company, Forbes and more.
As cofounder at startup investment advisor Rose Park Advisors, she co-led an in-the-trenches venture that applied frameworks of disruptive innovation to investing. She provides strategic and tactical advice to CEOs of early stage start-upsadvising how to influence opinion, build a movement and connect to the right people.
Whitney’s exceptional focus and discernment for momentumwhen it's building, when it's peaking and when it's gone, has enabled her to pick winnerswhether stocks, start-ups, concepts or people.