Better Rewards, Fewer Risks

Forget jugaad or risk-aversion; the wave of discovery-driven disruption will help India inc. Stay relevant in uncertain times.

- Rita Mcgrath And M. Muneer

It may sound oxymoronic but risk-mitigated innovation exists, and it has nothing to do with jugaad, the frugal innovation (in)famously popular in India.

The framework called discovery-driven disruption, or DDD, is all about driving growth in uncertain times. In this disruptive and unpredictable era, coping with uncertainty has become every business leader’s imperative. When revenues plunge and performance drops precipitously, it is easy to panic, freeze in the headlights or otherwise guarantee that the effects of the downturn will be far more serious and longer lasting than they need to be.

At its core, DDD is a planning and execution methodology that helps you create a portfolio of projects that protect and enhance current profit streams while securing footholds to future growth, all at low cost and little risk. The inherent idea is that you need a different mindset today than the tranquil yesteryears.

Master your Portfolio

In good times, companies can afford to get sloppy about new projects and the perennially moving deadlines. In more uncertain times, it will backfire but giving up on long-term projects or those promising important future payoffs is not the solution. Instead, get control of the portfolio of activities in the company, making sure that three kinds of strategic initiatives are managed well.

These three kinds are drawn from the intersection of market uncertainty on the horizontal axis and technology or capability uncertainty on the vertical axis (see