Leading through digital

disruption
1

Chapter overview
This topic gives an understanding of the key concepts of digital disruption, and what the threats
and opportunities are that it poses to business nowadays. This topic also helps students critically
reflect on what the strategies are that companies can put in place to respond to this disruption,
and the key skills leaders need to navigate organisations through the digital age.
This topic is divided into four sub-topics:
• What is disruption?
• What is digital disruption?
• Strategies that companies can implement to respond to digital disruption
• Explanation of the new skills needed by leaders in the digital age
Theoretical knowledge will be enriched by the use of case studies.
By the end of this workbook, you should be able to:
• Understand the concepts of disruptive innovation and digital disruption, and why they are
important nowadays
• Analyse the threats that digital disruption poses to all industries
• Understand which strategies companies have to develop to respond to digital disruption, and
disrupt themselves
• Recall key case studies that help understand how the above presented concepts apply to
reality
• Understand what the key leadership skills and capabilities are for effectively responding to
digital disruption
1

Learning outcomes
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
• Critically assess what disruption and digital disruption are
• Analyse the threats that digital disruption poses to all industries
• Explore the strategies and approaches leaders can take to respond to this disruption
1

Chapter summary
In this topic, we will address the following questions:
• What is disruption?
• What is digital disruption? What are the challenges and opportunities that it poses to
companies?
• Which strategies can companies implement to respond to digital disruption?
• Which set of skills and capabilities do leaders need to be successful in the digital age?
 When we talk about disruption, we tend to talk about disruptive innovation, a term coined by
Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen in the 90s to describe a process by which a new company
(ie the disruption) develops a product or service that takes root, initially in simple applications, at
the bottom of a market, and then relentlessly moves up the market, eventually displacing
established competitors (ie incumbents).
The concept of disruption is nothing new and does not only apply to the digital. However, today,
digital technologies (eg data, connected devices, increased computing power) are advancing at
such a rate that they are causing disruptive change on an unprecedented scale. These pose
several challenges and opportunities to businesses that must, in turn, respond and adapt to a
pace of technology evolution and adoption that is constantly accelerating. A 2018 Accenture
study found that 63% of companies are experiencing digital disruption, and 44% of companies
are highly susceptible to future disruption. This means that this is not a niche phenomenon.
Adapting for survival must now become a core business function in all industries and sectors.
To respond to this quick digital disruption, companies have to disrupt themselves and develop new
strategies. In this chapter, we will look at the Leap approach in detail, developed by McKinsey and
Co. What this approach says is that, to survive, incumbents have to leverage new technologies to
transform the core business and build a new business (separate to the core business). To build a
new business, five steps have to be followed:
(a) Define the strategic framework
(b) Build an MVP and pilot it
(c) Build the team
(d) Scale the business
(e) Do a strategic assessment.
However, to build this new business, the incumbent will face governance, cultural, and
professional challenges.
As digital disruption sweeps across every major industry, organisations do not just need more
strong leaders, they need a completely different kind of leader that is younger, more agile, and
“digital-ready”. Research on digital leadership, carried out by Deloitte and MIT, has shown that, in
order to succeed in this digital transformation, organisations need leaders that think, act, and
react differently. In order to develop those capabilities, new leaders need three key skills: hope,
optimism, and resiliency.
1

Context section
Digital technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, cloud-based systems, and artificial
intelligence, are disrupting the world we work and live in, profoundly changing it at an
unprecedented pace.
This digital disruption will become even faster after the Covid-19 pandemic, and will create
unprecedented volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity for all businesses and
industries.
In this topic, we explore what digital disruption is, how it is affecting businesses today, and how
and why it is important for organisations to react quickly in order to survive.
However, in order to survive this disruption, organisations do not only have to leverage processes,
strategies, and technologies, but also, and mainly, human capital. In particular, having the right
leaders with the right set of capabilities and skills will become a big differentiator between the
companies that survive and/or control digital disruption, and the companies that don’t.
This topic will help you perform the first task of your assessment. Read the content in this book
carefully and go through the learning material composed by a mix of reading, videos, and case
studies. The case studies are important as they will help you understand how the theoretical
concepts are applied in the real life.

Leading through digital disruption 2

1 What is disruption?
The idea of disruption became popular in the 90s after the Harvard Professor Clayton
Christensen introduced his theory of disruptive innovation.
As shown in the picture below, according to Christensen (2015), disruptive innovation creates new
markets by:
(a) Using existing technologies in different ways
(b) Leveraging new technologies
(c) Creating new business models

Specifically, he believes that disruptive innovation happens when a company with fewer resources
targets the customers at the bottom end of the existing company market.
Take company A (ie the incumbent), who is already well-established in the market. Since they
have been around for a while, they create premium products for high-end customers. Company B
(ie the disruptor) sees that company A is neglecting low-end customers, and capitalises on this
opportunity to target low-end customers with a low-cost product just for them.
As shown in the figure below, at the beginning, company A does not mind; it’s just their low-end
customers. But, company B grows, develops new products or improves existing ones, and, before
you know it, the majority of company A’s customers have adapted to the offer of company B. This
is disruptive innovation!

3 Leading through digital disruption

There are a lot of examples of disruptive innovation:
• In the 60s, Toyota disrupted the automotive business by using efficient production methods
(Lean) to build and sell their cars more cheaply than existing car manufacturers, including
Ford.
• In the 80s, when PCs were introduced, they were basic and added little value to minicomputers
but were an affordable product. As PCs improved in quality and functionalities, they disrupted
the minicomputer industry.
• The hospitality industry has been disrupted by the sharing economy (especially the Airbnb
app), that started basic in offers and functionalities, and is now wide-spread and full of
functionalities (eg using professional pictures, providing a guide of the place you visit).
• Nokia, Blackberry, and Kodak were all disrupted by smartphones.
The graph below visualises the process of disruption:

(McKinsey & Co., 2016)

At first, new companies (disruptors) struggle with uncertainty, but are agile and willing to
experiment until they develop a validated business model. The new model then needs to reach
some critical mass to become a going concern. As they mature—that is, become incumbents—
mindsets and realities change. The established companies lock in routines and processes. They
iron out and standardise variability amid growing organisational complexity. In the quest for
efficiency, they weed out strategic options and reward executives for steady results. The measure
of success is now a delivery of consistent, growing cash flows in the here and now. The option-rich
expectancy of future gain is replaced by the treadmill of continually escalating performance
expectations.
In a disruption, the company heading toward the top of the old S-curve confronts a new business
model at the bottom of a new S-curve. The circle of creative destruction is renewed, but this time,
the shoe is on the other foot. Two primary challenges emerge. The first is to recognise the new S-
curve, which starts with a small slope and often-unimpressive profitability, and, at first, does not
demand attention. After all, most companies have shown they are very good at dealing with
obvious emergencies, rapidly corralling resources and acting decisively. However, they struggle to
deal with the slow, quiet rise of an uncertain threat that does not announce itself. Second, the
same factors that help companies operate strongly toward the top of an S-curve often hinder

Leading through digital disruption 4

 them at the bottom of a new one. Because different modes of operation are required, it’s hard to
do the right thing—even when you think you know what the right thing might be.
Adapting to disruptive changes has always been a key survival skill for business. If you do not
anticipate the change and disrupt yourself, you will not survive the disruption.
If you want to see a critique of Christensen’s theory, read the following article:

Link
Moazed, A., Johnson, N. 2016. Why Clayton Christensen Is Wrong About Uber and Disruptive
Innovation. Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/27/why-clayton-christensen-is-wrong-
about-uber-and-disruptive-innovation/ [Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 30
minutes

2 What is digital disruption?

The concept of disruption is not a new one. However, today, digital technologies are advancing at
such a rate that they are causing disruptive change on an unprecedented scale.
A common definition for digital disruption (source unknown) is:

“The change that occurs when new digital technologies and business models affect the value
proposition of existing goods and services.”
• Unprecedented advances in technology are driving digital disruption, including:
- Data
Customer data offers companies valuable insights to inform products and services, and
feeds customer expectations for personalisation (eg tailored viewing recommendations on
Netflix).
- Computing power
Advances in supercomputing power enable the application of artificial intelligence and
machine learning, which can be applied in data analytics, automation, and
personalisation, as well as innovative products and services.
- Connectivity
Advances in mobile technology mean that the global population continues to become
connected to the Internet, breaking down language and geographic barriers. With more
people connected to mobile devices, there are also more devices per person, and devices
are getting smarter through machine learning.

• The pace of disruption has increased exponentially:

5 Leading through digital disruption

 (BCG, 2015)

This graph shows how wide digital technologies reach, and how it took the telephone 75 years to
reach 100 million users worldwide, in comparison with WhatsApp and Instagram which took less
than three years. This helps to understand that the pace of technology evolution and adoption is
constantly accelerating!
• Everett Rogers, author of “Diffusion of Innovations”, theorised five stages in the spread of a
new idea. However, we are now seeing “Big Bang Disruption”, in which mass adoption of a new
idea or technology rises and falls much more quickly.

(LinkedIn, 2016)

As shown in the graph above, Big Bang Disruption collapses Everett Rogers’ classic bell curve of
five distinct customer segments (innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and

Leading through digital disruption 6

 laggards). Now, there are only two groups: trial users, who often participate in product
development, and everybody else. Once the right combination of technologies and business
models come together in a successful market experiment, mainstream consumers move “en
masse” to the winner. The adoption curve has become something closer to a straight line that
shoots up and falls rapidly when saturation is reached, or when a new disruptor appears.
• Adapting for survival is now a core business function
Adapting for survival must now become a core business function in all industries and sectors. A
2018 Accenture study found that 63% of companies are experiencing digital disruption, and
44% of companies are highly susceptible to future disruption.

(Accenture, 2018)

In addition, Accenture produced the disruptability Index and positioned different industries
according to present/future levels of disruption:

(Accenture, 2018)

3 Strategy to respond to digital disruption

Nowadays, many companies have been challenged by digital disruption. In order to respond to it,
incumbents have to disrupt themselves.

7 Leading through digital disruption

McKinsey & Co. argues that in order to effectively survive digital disruption, incumbents have to:
• Transform the core business
• Build a new business (separated by the core business)
For details, see the graph below:

(Based on McKinsey & Co, 2017)

in order to build a new business, McKinsey has developed the Leap approach, composed by five
steps as shown in the graph below:

(McKinsey & Co, 2019)

(a) Define the strategic framework
- What is the value? What will be better for your customers in the future? How do you define
the marketing opportunity?
- Why us? What can your company bring to the table? How can your company differentiate
itself from the competition?
(b) Build an MVP and pilot it
- Build a small first version of your idea (MVP: minimum viable product)
- Test your MVP with some customers and get feedback

Leading through digital disruption 8

 (c) Build the team
- Identify the new skills you need (eg engineer, data scientist, scrum master, UX/UI designers,
project managers)
- Hire talents you need for scaling (both internally and externally)
(d) Scale the business
- In this phase, it is key to keep connected with the incumbent to leverage on elements such
as data, assets, and people
(e) Do a strategic assessment
- Now that the new business is up and running, what should the incumbent do with it? eg
merge, keep separated, etc.
See examples of companies that have used the Lead approach by McKinsey & Co. to disrupt
themselves:

Link
McKinsey & Company. 2023. Leap by McKinsey. [website] Available at:
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/leap/overview [Date accessed 28
February 2023]

However, McKinsey & Co. affirms that developing new businesses for incumbents is not an easy
journey and there are a lot of challenges that they have to face. See details below:

4 New needed leadership skills

Leadership development continues to be a significant challenge for companies around the world
as the transition to the new digital organisation creates even larger leadership gaps. High-
performing leaders today need different skills and expertise than in generations past, yet most
organisations have not moved rapidly enough to develop digital leaders, promote young leaders,
and build new leadership models.
Specifically, as the leadership gap has become larger, organisational capabilities to address
leadership has dropped by 2%, and 42% of companies cite “leadership development” as very
important.
As digital disruption sweeps across every major industry, organisations do not just need more
strong leaders, they need a completely different kind of leader. In short, organisations need to
build a new breed of younger, more agile, “digital-ready” leaders.
Unfortunately, many CEOs do not understand the gravity of this issue. In a recent industry study
of 800 top business executives, 67% believed that technology will drive greater value than human
capital (and 64% believed people are a cost, not a driver, of value).

9 Leading through digital disruption

While the topic of human capital vs technology may be in debate, some executives continue to
focus on the technology side of business at the expense of developing leaders.
The most critical need for most organisations is for leaders to develop digital capabilities. Today,
only 5% of companies feel they have strong digital leaders in place (Deloitte, 2017).
However, getting there is hard!
Research on digital leadership, carried out by Deloitte with MIT, shows that a shift in leadership
capabilities in three areas is needed to succeed in a digital world: how leaders must think, how
leaders must act, and how leaders must react.
The table below shows the leadership capabilities needed to succeed in a digital world:
Adapted from: (Deloitte, 2017)

Leaders need to think, act, and react differently to make their organisations
succeed in a digital world
Cognitive Behavioural Emotional
transformation transformation transformation
(THINK differently) (ACT differently) (REACT differently)
Conceptualising possibilities Adapting to constantly Tolerating an environment of
in a virtual world shifting power and influence risk and ambiguity

Handling ever-increasing Collaborating with ease Showing resilience in the face

cognitive complexity across many different teams of constant change

Thinking divergently about Valuing the contribution of Being brave in challenging

new ways of doing things new work partners and how things are being done
different interest groups

Making decisions quickly Investing huge amounts of Having the confidence to take
without all of the information energy into getting things the lead in driving change
right: try, fail, try again

In order to develop these capabilities, new leaders need to have hope, be optimistic, and be
resilient.

Leading through digital disruption 10

Thus, a study of the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government of leaders in high technology
start-ups and established firms found that the traits of hope, optimism, and resiliency had a
direct impact on transformational leadership, which directly impacted firm performance
(Bradford, 2016). A study of employees found that these three characteristics positively affected
satisfaction and work happiness, but only hope and resilience impacted organisational
commitment.
• Hope: the faith that you can achieve your goal.
Hopeful thinking leads to better divergent thinking (thinking outside the box, with higher
quality ideas and more details). We know now that both established companies and start-ups
need to be creative in finding solutions to face constant and fast change.
• Optimism: using strategic optimism, which is setting high expectations, feeling calm, and
avoiding reflecting.
Though research shows hope trumps optimism for performance, both are needed for
satisfaction, which we know is critical for employee retention. Optimism is Elon Musk selling
most of his stock to invest in his belief that Tesla and SpaceX have a role to play in the future.
• Resiliency: this is particularly important because, in digital businesses, pivots or failures often
signal the end of someone’s passion project.
New leaders must see failures as temporary setbacks they can recover from quickly.

Essential reading

To help your learning journey, the material provided has been classified to show what is key for
giving you a basic, developed, and advanced knowledge of the topic.
Sub-topic: disruption
• Basic:
QUT IFB101 (2015) Disruptive Innovation. [online video] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu6J6taqOSg [Date accessed: 28 February 2023] -
Estimated time 10 minutes

11 Leading through digital disruption

• Developed, basic plus:
Academic article: Christensen, C et al. (2015) What Is Disruptive Innovation? Harvard Business
Review [online] Available at: https://hbr.org/2015/12/what-is-disruptive-innovation [Date
accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 60 minutes
• Advanced, developed plus:
Reading: Moazed, A., and Johnson, N. (2016) Why Clayton Christensen Is Wrong About Uber
And Disruptive Innovation. TechCrunch [online] Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=111099338&site=eds-live
[Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 30 minutes
Sub-topic digital disruption
• Basic:
Reading: Oxford College of Marketing (2016) Digital Disruption: What Is It and How Does It
Impact Businesses? [online] Available at:
https://blog.oxfordcollegeofmarketing.com/2016/02/22/what-is-digital-disruption/ [Date
accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 20 minutes
Reading: Harvard Business Review. 2014. Big bang disruption: strategy in the age of
devastating innovation. Available at: https://hbr.org/2014/05/big-bang-disruption-strategy-
in-the-age-of-devastating-innovation [Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 40
minutes
• Developed, basic plus:
Reading: Bradley, C. and O’Toole, C. (2016) An incumbent’s guide to digital disruption.
McKinsey Quarterly. [online] Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-
functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/an-incumbents-guide-to-digital-disrup
tion [Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 20 minutes
• Advanced, developed plus:
Short case study: Lauchlan, S. (2018) McDonald’s digital delivery is a long game, not a fast
food fix. Diginomica [online] Available at: https://diginomica.com/mcdonalds-digital-delivery-
long-game-not-fast-food-fix [Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 15 minutes
Sub-topic: strategy to respond to digital disruption
• Basic:
Video: CXOTALK (2019) Digital Transformation: McKinsey LEAP and Business Building
(CXOTalk). [online video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUC3tgx6G8
[Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 15 minutes
• Developed:
Short case study: Think with Google (2018) Digital transformation in 12 weeks: How Proximus
and Digipolitans made it happen. [online] Available at:
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-154/insights-inspiration/case-studies/data-driven-
transformation-12-weeks-how-proximus-and-digipolitans-made-it-happen/ [Date accessed:
28 February 2023] - Estimated time 15 minutes
• Advanced:
Short case study: Samples of companies that have used the Lead Approach by McKinsey &
Co. to disrupt themselves. McKinsey & Co. 2023. Leap by McKinsey. Available at:
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/leap/overview [Date
accessed: 28 February 2023]
Academic article: El Sawy, O. A. et al. (2016) How LEGO Built the Foundations and Enterprise
Capabilities for Digital Leadership. MIS Quarterly Exclusive, Vol. 15, Iss. 2, Article 5. Available
at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=115879197&site=eds-live
[Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 60 minutes
Sub-topic: new needed leadership skills
• Basic:
Reading: Philpot, S. and Roy, I. (2017) Leadership disrupted: Pushing the boundaries. Deloitte
Insights [online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-

Leading through digital disruption 12

 trends/2017/developing-digital-leaders.html [Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated
time 20 minutes
Reading: Balakrishnan, M. S. (2016) Hope, Optimism and Resiliency: The Three Most Powerful
Leadership Tools You Can Have As An Entrepreneur. Entrepreneur [online] Available at:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/282893 [Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated
time 10 minutes
• Developed:
Short case study: Rossi, B. (2016) Inside River Island’s transition to digital retail. Information
Age. [online] Available at: https://www.information-age.com/inside-river-islands-transition-
digital-retail-123462639/ [Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 15 minutes
• Advanced:
Reading: Strack, R. (2020) Leadership in the New Now. BCG. [online] Available at:
https://www.bcg.com/en-in/publications/2020/leadership-post-covid-
19.aspx?linkId=88790637&redir=true [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]

13 Leading through digital disruption

References

Abbosh, O. et al. (2018) Disruptability Index. [online] Accenture. Available at:

https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/pdf-72/accenture-disruptability-index-pov-final.pdf
[Date accessed: 28 February 2023]
Balakrishnan, M. S. (2016) Hope, Optimism and Resiliency: The Three Most Powerful Leadership
Tools You Can Have As An Entrepreneur. Entrepreneur [online] Available at:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/282893 [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]
Banholzer, M., Berger-de Leon, M., Narayanan, S. and Patel, M. 2019 How industrial incumbents
can create new businesses. McKinsey & Co. Available at:
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/industrials-and-electronics/our-insights/how-industrial-
incumbents-can-create-new-businesses [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]
Bradford, R (2016) The Middle East Is Ripe For Technology Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneur [online]
Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/270594 [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]
Bradley, C. and O’Toole, C. (2016) An incumbent’s guide to digital disruption. McKinsey Quarterly.
[online] 18 May 2016. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-
corporate-finance/our-insights/an-incumbents-guide-to-digital-disruption [Date accessed: 28
February 2023]
The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (2015) BCG Technology Advantage. Available at: http://media-
publications.bcg.com/BCG_Technology_Advantage_April_2015.pdf [Date accessed: 28 February
2023]
CXOTALK (2019) Digital Transformation: McKinsey LEAP and Business Building (CXOTalk). [online
video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUC3tgx6G8 [Date accessed: 28
February 2023]
LinkedIn (2016) What is “Big bang disruption?” [image] Available at:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-big-bang-disruption-willem-van-der-steen [Date accessed
28 February 2023]
Moazed, J. & Johnson, N (2016) Why Clayton Christensen Is Wrong About Uber And Disruptive
Innovation. TechCrunch [online] Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/27/why-clayton-
christensen-is-wrong-about-uber-and-disruptive-innovation/ [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]
Oxford College of Marketing (2016) Digital Disruption: What Is It and How Does It Impact
Businesses? [online] Available at: https://blog.oxfordcollegeofmarketing.com/2016/02/22/what-is-
digital-disruption/ [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]
Philpot, S. and Roy, I. (2017) Leadership disrupted: Pushing the boundaries. Deloitte Insights
[online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-
trends/2017/developing-digital-leaders.html [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]

Leading through digital disruption 14

Further study guidance

Further reading
You need to do your own research to apply the concepts presented above to the company you
are choosing for the assessment.
In addition, see below further readings, videos, and case studies that will help you gain a deeper
knowledge of this topic.
It is highly recommended that you consult the reading on how the Covid-19 pandemic is making
digital disruption even more disruptive and fast-paced, and what is expected from leaders of the
post-pandemic era.
• BCG. 2023. The Business Impact of COVID-19. Available at: https://www.bcg.com/featured-
insights/coronavirus.aspx [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]
• Kearney, M (2018) 7 Lessons for Resilient Leaders. Deloitte WSJ [online] Available at:
https://deloitte.wsj.com/cio/2018/08/01/7-lessons-for-resilient-leaders/ [Date accessed: 28
February 2023]
• Abbosh, O. et al. (2018) Disruptability Index. [online] Accenture. Available at:
https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/pdf-72/accenture-disruptability-index-pov-final.pdf
[Date accessed: 28 February 2023]
• 7 Skills for the Future (n.d.) The 7 skills you need right now. [online] Available at:
https://unimenta.com/ [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]

Videos
• TEDx Talks (2013) My Digital Stamp: Erik Qualman at TEDxNashville. [online video] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH4HOLwm0X0 [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]
• 7 Skills For the Future (2019) An Introduction to Optimism. [online video] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvzJZNcbOF0&t=2s [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]
• 7 Skills For the Future (2019) An Introduction to Resilience. [online video] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1df36na-RM4 [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]

Case studies
These are case studies that will give you an understanding of how the theoretical concepts
presented above are applied in the real world.
Sub-topic: digital disruption
• Lauchlan, S. (2018) McDonald’s digital delivery is a long game, not a fast food fix. Diginomica
[online] Available at: https://diginomica.com/mcdonalds-digital-delivery-long-game-not-fast-
food-fix [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]- Estimated time 15 minutes
• El Sawy, O. A. et al. (2016) How LEGO Built the Foundations and Enterprise Capabilities for
Digital Leadership. MIS Quarterly Exclusive, Vol. 15, Iss. 2, Article 5. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=115879197&site=eds-live
[Date accessed: 28 February 2023]- Estimated time 60 minutes
Sub-topic: strategy to respond to digital disruption
• Think with Google (2018) Digital transformation in 12 weeks: How Proximus and Digipolitans
made it happen. [online] Available at: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-154/insights-
inspiration/case-studies/data-driven-transformation-12-weeks-how-proximus-and-digipolitans
-made-it-happen/ [Date accessed: 28 February 2023]- Estimated time 15 minutes
• See examples of companies that have used the Lead Approach by McKinsey & Co. to disrupt
themselves: McKinsey & Co. 2023. Leap by McKinsey. Available at:
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/leap/overview [Date
accessed: 28 February 2023]
Sup-topic: new needed leadership skills

15 Leading through digital disruption

• Rossi, B. (2016) Inside River Island’s transition to digital retail. Information Age. [online]
Available at: https://www.information-age.com/inside-river-islands-transition-digital-retail-
123462639/ [Date accessed: 28 February 2023] - Estimated time 15 minutes

Leading through digital disruption 16