CHAPTER 1. Disruption in three forms Disruption is a complex idea that can be broken down into different modes. Chapter One provides a subject review of disruption, highlighting how disruptive features have been borrowed and manifested in three ideas: as mindsets, systems theories and methodologies.
1.1 Disruption as a Mindset Model We begin by exploring the idea of disruptive design as a form of a mindset, defined as “a pattern of thinking” or “a person’s way of thinking and their opinions” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020). Similar mindsets can be shared amongst groups of people, and these comprise of the beliefs, attitudes and assumptions that form a basis for our behaviours and philosophies towards life (Cherry, 2020). Leadership strategist and thinker, James Brett, contextualises disruptive mindsets in a cognitive approach. In the “Disruptive Mindset Model” (Fig 2), he explains that our brains are run by multitudes of ‘meta-programs’, commonly known as personality traits, where he identifies only seven meta-programs directly accounting to a ‘disruptive mindset’ (Medium, 2018). To be succinct, only the meta-programs most relevant to social change will be introduced: ‘Change Adapter’, ‘Authority Source’ and ‘Conventional’. Brett’s model also inspires my research in the cross-analysis of disruptive personalities of Hong Kong youth activists in Chapter 2.2.
Fig 2. Seven Elements of the Disruptive Mindset (Brett, 2018)
Change Adapter Brett refers to the next meta-program as a ‘Change Adapter’, and those who tend to embrace change or ‘adapt’ quicker are more disruptive (2018). Positive or negative, early adapters are energised even in the unknown, whereas late adapters tend to fight and resist change. Psychologically, mindsets are said to be conditioned by past experiences, by theory of classical conditioning (McLeod, 2018). Brett sees disruptors as fast adapters, acknowledging change without the need for conditioning (2018). They have the ability to identify where change is needed, and may even feel bored in the lack of change (Brett, 2018). Socially, ‘Change Adapter’ is core in the early stages of widespread change: from larger scales such as protest rallies, to ‘smaller’ acts 8
