The biggest of innovations and creative disruptions are catalyzed by the outsiders, the fresh pair of eyes and ears. The strangers in the midst who suddenly shake up the industry norm and leave it changed for the better.

A Cirque du Soleil conflated the world of theatre & wondrous human possibilities in a script and format that disrupted the world of the circus. Not just disrupt but value created a brand new category. A blue ocean was born.

Air BNB was founded by designers. When the conventional business was busy looking at hospitality being the preserve of hotels, resorts and whatnots, Air BNB imagined the homeowners, to be the largest potential supply of an alternative hospitality. One that was warmer, more authentic, closer to communities and more adventurous. They haven’t looked back since with their network multiplier model. It was an outsider’s insight that joined the dots between opportunities, new tech capabilities and the shifting consumer trends.

The 140-charactered microblogging habit of the world – Twitter, was founded by Jack Dorsey who had been a certified masseur, web designer and programmer. Twitter was born of his need to be able to send distributed text messages to his friends on the mobile. Today more than 150 million tweets happen every-day influencing the course of news, politics, social change, impact and conversations. Jack Dorsey went on to create another disruption called Square (miniature gadget for making credit card mobile payments) and of course redefine philanthropy in his own way.

The list goes on with disruptive ventures that have impacted public life and markets like the Amul milk revolution at Anand, Taleo, Intuit, Sulabh Sauchalya, McDonald’s, Netflix and more.

Disruptive innovation (DI), was coined by Clayton Christensen in his book Innovator’s Dilemma. The fundamental idea being that an outsider shakes up an established industry market by addressing an “unaddressed market” and eventually grows to threaten or dominate the incumbents and simply changes the industry rules forever. They catalyse the new normal.

The worst is when you’re an “expert” because then you’re even less likely to challenge your assumptions.” – Jason Cohen, SmartBear Software Founder and CEO

So how does an “outsider” help create the climate of innovation?

An outsider often is more curious. More atypical.
She / he is not benumbed by the usual. Often insiders can be as phlegmatic as the grazing cow, happy with the pastures and the lazy breeze. They often have a usual answer – “here it’s only done this way – the usual”. Any challenge to assumptions or the “normal” way of life is seen as a threat to the orderly way of things. Well while this might have worked in earlier eras. But today agility is the most valuable currency. Today if as a business you are not imagining and acting upon threats to your normal yourself, someone else will be conceiving ventures and ideas that will simply disrupt you out of the market.

Diversity in thinking is critical, whether you are talking of public policy, business management, design solutions or solving a problem. If the same pair of eyes are going to be looking at the problem, chances are you will not be coming up with a new solution. The situation demands either needs new lenses or outside eyes looking in.

Venture design teams tend to be atypical by blending left brainers with the right brainers. It helps if you are solving a problem with both sides of the brain working in tandem and complementing each other.

Outsiders are wired different. Period.
Creative disruptors are wired differently. They would perceive a problem or an opportunity in a whole new manner. And this wiring is a function of many things – inherent DNA, experiences, a mind that’s been trained to go behind the data and patterns – consider the atypical and grab the non-obvious, a desire not to be hypnotized by the patterns. And that is an innovator’s biggest competitive advantage. Put these outsiders with the industry “insiders” and you would be pleasantly surprised by the number of productive ideas and hacks that would be generated. And as Edison remarked, (and this is for the cynics) even if you don’t find success you would have discovered hundreds of ways of possible failures, which could have been like the death traps.

Often the approach of “things have always been like this” that prevents one from breakthrough thinking, and what can be reimagined. Patterned thinking is great and has efficiencies but often misses the wood for the trees.

In venture design for instance it is abductive logic that is superproductive and not deductive logic that management consultants often use. Simply because today the world is more uncertain and ambiguous than yesterday.

Outsiders are either brave enough or have the license to ask the “dumb” questions
Disruptors and innovators often start by asking questions that the industry insiders could poohpooh as dumb or as obvious. Often as the grazing bovine creatures, insiders might not take too kindly to questions or can worry that it upsets the hierarchy of thinking (the boss man in many organisations is looked upon as the only fountain of innovation and right thinking). Outsiders ask these questions not to test intelligence or compete. They often prod and question the framework itself which could be hiding the path to new solutions. They come in with zero pre  conceptions about this industry and being “dumb” enough could very well hold the keys to some of the insightful questions and disruptive answers. Simply because they are not afraid or not programmed enough to not ask questions.

For conventional industries and corporates, to work with such interdisciplinary outside teams has tremendous advantages. The diverse skills, experiences and fresh perspectives outsider – catalysts bring could very well be the recipe to discover the new, reimagine the existing industry or creatively disrupt the status quo.

So, if you as a CXO, leader or as a boss, are fortunate to have such “outsiders” in your team, pay heed. There just might be a $million disruption or game changing innovation that could be hiding in her or his seemingly dumb question.