The Disruptive Voice

2020 is nearly upon us and here at The Forum we're delighted to welcome the new year with Jessica O. Matthews , Founder & CEO of Uncharted Power . Jessica, a member of the HBS Class of 2014 and a BSSE alumna, is working to transform the global energy system into a renewable, smart, and distributed network of clean energy technology. A prolific inventor and entrepreneur, she was named one of Forbes...

It's the most wonderful time of the year but for many high school seniors it means one thing: college application deadlines! This week on The Disruptive Voice, as millions of students hit "submit", we've invited Bob Moesta and Michael Horn to The Forum to discuss why we go to college in the first place. They've recently released an excellent, highly-readable book called "Choosing College" that use...

The holidays are always a time of reflection and here at The Forum we're looking inward to understand why people hire Harvard Business School to earn an MBA. Derek van Bever , Director of The Forum for Growth & Innovation , is joined in the studio by Community Manager, Katie Zandbergen , and Research Associate, Iulia Mogosanu , to discuss a research project they've undertaken using the Jobs To Be...

This week on The Disruptive Voice we bring you a conversation between Cliff Maxwell and Ned Calder on the electrification of the auto industry -- or, more broadly, the mobility industry -- using the theories of Disruption and Jobs To Be Done. As a partner at Innosight , where he has worked for over a decade, Ned has consciously applied these theories in his work in the high tech, automotive, aeros...

This week on The Disruptive Voice, we are joined in the studio by  Hari  Nair , a longtime member of Clay World and one of the original members of the Innosight Asia team.  Hari 's career has been focused on overcoming the challenges to innovation, in organizations large and small. Among the many projects and ventures he has pursued, he was deeply involved in the design and rollout of the chotuKoo...

This week on The Disruptive Voice, Derek van Bever is joined in the studio by venture capitalists  Nate Redmond and Britt Danneman , of Alpha Edison , to discuss trust as a business model, as an asset, and as the foundation for new market innovation. Earlier this year, Nitin Nohria, Dean of Harvard Business School, wrote in the Financial Times  that HBS and other business schools need to play a vi...

This week on The Disruptive Voice, Shaye Roseman , a former Research Associate at The Forum for Growth & Innovation and a current MBA candidate at Harvard Business School, is joined in the studio by Bob Moesta and Ryan Singer . Bob is a regular on the podcast and is a principal co-architect of the theory of "Jobs To Be Done". Ryan has worked at Basecamp for over 15 years and has been involved with...

The best independent projects that BSSE students take on after completing the course have (at least) one thing in common: They are  important —relevant to our students' interests, as well as to the wider world.  On this podcast, Maria Creixell (MBA 2019) and Ari Medoff (MBA/MPP 2011) share the findings from Maria's research into why home health caregivers hire—and fire—employers, and what employer...

This week on The Disruptive Voice, Derek van Bever , Director of The Forum for Growth & Innovation and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, is joined in the studio by Bob Moesta and Andrew Glaser for an illuminating discussion of the "paradox of innovation" through the lens of Jobs-to-be-Done  Theory. Andrew is Chief Strategy Officer at American Signature, Inc . and an outspoken evangelist...

When Ann-Somers Hogg , Director of Innovation at Atrium Health, came to Cambridge to teach about disruption in healthcare at the Harvard Macy Institute "Leading Innovations" program, we invited her to the podcast studio to hear a little more about how disruption is affecting her organization—and what they are doing about it.  Ann-Somers is a 2015 past participant of our Executive Education course...

And now for something completely different: What can we learn by looking at changes in religious affiliation through the lens of Jobs to Be Done? Why are rising generations "firing" organized religion in greater and greater numbers, and what are they "hiring" instead? And what do organizations such as Crossfit have to do with all this? Enjoy this conversation with our own Bob Moesta , co-founder o...

Through the lens of Jobs To Be Done, MBA graduates  Jas myn Beausejour and Nicolas Kernick consider the scale and complexity of the types of jobs for which clients hire the Big 3 consulting firms – McKinsey, BCG, and Bain. With the 2013 HBR article as the springboard for their research, their framework and analysis help to explain current trends in the consulting industry and, crucially, to consid...

A not to be missed conversation. We sit down with Bob Moesta and Todd Rose , Harvard professor and author of The End of Average , for a deep-dive on the underpinnings of jobs theory and analysis. You'll learn when to average vs. when to aggregate data and why individuality is so important in product and service design. 

Professor Derek van Bever speaks with BSSE case protagonist BJ Hess, former Senior Vice President of Global Operations for Arrow Electronics, to discuss the difficulty of business mergers and integrations. Hear why "Acquisition" is a bad word, and how business leaders can lead humane, successful integrations. BJ is a wealth of practical,  intelligent  experience, and continues to be a huge draw an...

The Disruptive Voice hits the road, heading to BlackDuck by Synopsys headquarters in Burlington, MA. We sit down with Lou Shipley (CEO) , Patrick Carey (Director of Product Marketing), and Tim Kenny (VP of Culture) to hear how Competing Against Luck became a company staple, and how BlackDuck created their own Jobs to Be Done culture -- complete with war room! 

Before returning to our Jobs to Be Done theme, we thought we'd share a little about  how some of Clay's theories came to be. On the show today, hear Clay talk with one of his mentors, Joe Bower, the Donald K. David Professor Emeritus , about the origins of Resource Allocation theory. Joe's groundbreaking book,  Managing the Resource Allocation Process: A Study of Corporate Planning and Investment,...

Continuing our focus on Jobs to Be Done, Derek is joined by Intercom Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Des Traynor, to discuss how Intercom's model was built from the ground up with the framework. Be sure to take a look at Intercom's helpful JTBD resources . 

In this episode, we talk with HBS alum  Levi Belnap , VP of Business Development at Wyzant , a leading tutoring online marketplace, to discuss how implementing the Jobs To Be Done theory helped Wyzant identify a major market opportunity with tremendous scaling potential. Hear how Levi led the charge to institutionalize Jobs To Be Done in ways that helped Wyzant reshape its business model.

Angela Ruggiero , CEO and Co-Founder of the Sports Innovation Lab , talks to the Forum about the convergence of sports and technology. What are sports technologies? And how have they developed? Where are they heading? What does the fan of the future look like? What do they expect? Shaye Roseman asks Angela this and much more on the latest episode of The Disruptive Voice !

Efosa Ojomo and Karen Dillon, co-authors with Clayton Christensen on The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty , discuss the story behind their newly-released book, what it's like to collaborate with Clay, and the substance of The Prosperity Paradox, in which they address the question, "Where does true and lasting prosperity come from?" With an eye towards low income c...

Just what is the job of an investor? Forum member Curtis Arledge talks to Nate Redmond, Managing Partner at Alpha Edison, about adapting to changes within Venture Capital and the role of the investor. Nate explains his application of BSSE theories to locating and evaluating potential companies - unlocking opportunities in his terminology - as well as common mistakes investors make, their relations...

In this episode, Forum member and Research Associate Shaye Roseman is joined in the HBS studio by Darius Shahida, MBA class of 2019 and Chief of Staff at Butterfly Network . Through their conversation, we learn how Butterfly Network is aiming to disrupt and revolutionize the ultrasound industry. How is the new company approaching ultrasound imaging incumbents? What type of innovation lies behind t...

We sat down with Dr. Paul LeBlanc, President of Southern New Hampshire University, to discuss disruptive innovation in higher education. Our conversation touches on Paul's own background, students' jobs to be done, competency-based learning, SNHU's work in refugee camps, and other innovative initiatives currently on Paul's radar screen. Those of our listeners hoping for shining examples of Clay Ch...

Harvard Business School Professors Clay Christensen and Chet Huber sit down to discuss frameworks taken from Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise and applied to HouseSetter, the company Chet formed and operates as Chairman. Hear how BSSE frameworks like Emergent Strategy, Disruptive Innovation, Jobs to Be Done, and Purpose Branding have helped Chet steer his new venture. Prof Christense...

We sat down with Bob Moesta, the President and CEO of The ReWired Group , and pioneer of the Jobs To Be Done Theory. The topic: spotting and strategizing around non-consumption. Through this lens companies can see where they can enter a market and compete against...nothing!