Navigating the seas of disruption

By Sarah Cameron

In a world where emerging technologies, products and regulations cause one disruption after another, how do we keep up, let alone leverage it to our advantage? We spoke to David Platt, Director at Resilient Futures.

‘Disruption’—the word of the moment—refers to when something in our environment changes the way we do things, causing us to think and behave in new ways.

David Platt explained that while the scope, scale and speed of change means that we’re experiencing disruption in new ways, the reality is that disruption is not a new concept.

‘Throughout history, innovation has continued to disrupt and change the way we do things,’ he said.

Innovation will continue to change our world, and for many of us that means transitioning to new skills and work that align with the adoption of new technologies.

In our lifetime we will see autonomous vessels become reality, but imagine what people thought when the internal combustion engine and the screw propeller disrupted the pre-existing sail technology. We have always had to come to grips with new ways of doing things. According to David the trick is being open to it and using it to our advantage—leveraging it.

David says that for many, there is an active choice to make—either understand and embrace disruption so that it becomes a tailwind of opportunity, or ignore it and be exposed to headwinds of risk.

He added that from his experience, seafarers, who are constantly assessing conditions and changing course, are wired to strategically leverage disruption—a process also referred to as strategy in action.

‘Recently, while working with folks in the commercial fishing industry, we discovered that they have a natural affinity to continuously assess immediate and emerging conditions, and the risks and opportunities associated with the conditions,’ he said.

‘With this information they would then focus on making the most of the circumstances by re-focusing their actions, and then continuing to trial and readjust the new approach to ensure best progress.’

‘For many seafarers, this is an intuitive and obvious way to operate. The key for anyone who works on the water lies in keeping a “weather eye” to the horizon so that any actions enable a safe and successful passage,’ David said.

From: Working Boats, January 2020