12 hours 250 words

For Innosight, disruptive innovation begins

at home

By Helen Walters on September 23, 2009

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2009-09-23/for-innosight-disruptive-innovation-begins-at-

home

Innovation watchers will be familiar with Scott Anthony, President of Innosight, some time

BusinessWeek contributor and author of books such as the recent The Silver Lining. A sharp

thinker on innovation, Scott?? always worth keeping an eye on. So it was with interest that I saw

the news that he?? upping sticks and leaving. Not leaving Innosight, but shifting roles to become

MD at the still somewhat nascent Innosight Ventures, the company?? venture and investment

arm.

This is a big deal, not least for Scott and his family, who will leave the U.S. and head to live in

Singapore in 2010. But also because of the signal it sends. Innosight, founded by disruptive

innovation specialist Clayton Christensen, has made a name and a living from advising clients on

how to manage risk and build a sustainable business. Now Innosight is itself identifying key

areas it thinks are ripe for disruption, and getting a foot in on the ground floor.

The move is actually reflective of a wider trend that?? been playing out in the consulting

business over the past few years, Scott told me in a phone conversation last evening. Particularly

in this economic climate, clients aren?? content with having a PowerPoint to wave around at the

end of a consultant?? extensive tour of duty. They want more than strategic insights??hey want

the consultants to implement and execute ideas, too.

So as the consulting business has shifted to become more practical, so too has Innosight?? own

focus. And now Scott will spearhead the hands-on side of things.

To date, Innosight Ventures has invested in four ventures: a laundry services business in India; a

men's grooming business, also in India, an online education business in the United States and a

program with the Singapore government. Note the areas of interest: these aren't the traditional

areas for VCs, who themselves seem to cluster around certain often high tech-focused industries.

Instead, these are service industries. As it happens, Innosight's taking a leaf out of its own

disruptive playbook.

"I have nothing but respect for VCs," Scott said. "I don't suppose I could do it better. But then

the question is 'how do you go where they aren't?' You go to sectors that people aren't paying

attention to and you play the game in a different way."

And what of potential conflict between Innosight the consultancy and Innosight Ventures, the

supporter of fast-growing disruptors? Scott's clearly aware of the potential problems. But for

now, he emphasizes that it's still early days (Innosight Ventures is currently only a team of ten)

and underlines his excitement at taking a step away from the theoretical in order to plunge into

the muck and grime of modern day business. "It's another laboratory," he says. "We have this

body of academic theory refined through our consulting services and this is the next level where

we operationalize it. We'll learn what happens when people stop being polite."