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A kaleidoscopic look at how eleven disruptive innovations-including the iPhone, the transistor, disposable diapers, and Julia Child's The Art of French Cooking-reshaped industries and societies, propelling humanity toward new frontiers.
From gunpowder to generative AI, the forces of disruption are repeatedly rewriting the rules of business, society, and human possibility. But what drives these revolutionary changes?
In Epic Disruptions, innovation expert Scott Anthony masterfully weaves together the fascinating stories behind history's most transformative disruptions-from ninth-century China to twenty-first-century Silicon Valley. Through eleven pivotal innovations, including the printing press, mass-produced automobiles, the McDonald's revolutionary food system, and the iPhone, Anthony reveals the hidden patterns behind world-changing breakthroughs.
But Epic Disruptions goes beyond just celebrating invention. Through vivid storytelling and sharp analysis, Anthony introduces the iconoclasts who dared to think differently-the Renaissance-era scientists, French cooking enthusiasts, and corporate visionaries who saw opportunities others missed. He reveals how disruption actually happens.
As artificial intelligence and other technologies promise to unleash another wave of transformation, Epic Disruptions arrives at the perfect moment-offering innovators and curious readers a page-turning exploration of how radical change reshapes industries, launches new powers, and, yes, occasionally changes everything.
About the author
Scott D. Anthony is a clinical professor of strategy at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where his research and teaching focus on the adaptive challenges of disruptive change. He previously spent more than twenty years at Innosight, a growth strategy consultancy founded by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. Thinkers50 named Anthony the world's ninth most influential management thinker in 2023 and named him the world's leading innovative thinker in 2017.
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Advance Praise for Epic Disruptions:
"This warm, funny, and intelligent book brings Clayton Christensen's theories to life-a delightful romp through major disruptions, offering historical surprises and deep insights into innovations that literally changed the world." - Rita McGrath, professor, Columbia Business School; author, Seeing Around Corners; and top-ranked strategist
"Deep, important ideas about disruption, shared by a master storyteller and frontline thinker on innovation. Read this if you want to understand the past-and the future-of radical change." - Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg, author, What's Your Problem?; coauthor, Innovation as Usual
"A compelling blend of historical ideas and the latest business-school theory. I had a great time reading this book and learned so much." - Tim Harford, author, Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
"What does Julia Child have to do with gunpowder or jaywalking? That is the fun part of this delightful and provocative book. The serious part is understanding the 'predictably unpredictable' forces of disruption that no business or industry can afford to ignore." - Charles Wheelan, author, Naked Economics and Naked Statistics
"What connects gunpowder, the printing press, Pampers, and iPhones? Scott Anthony's engaging new book reveals powerful lessons for today's business leaders from these world-reshaping disruptions." - Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School; author, Right Kind of Wrong and The Fearless Organization
"Such a fun read that contains so much timeless wisdom." - Howard Yu, IMD Professor, Director of IMD's Center for Future Readiness, author of Leap
"I encourage you to read Scott D Anthony's new book. Could there be a more disruptive time than today? Once again, Scott provokes us to take heed of the lessons of the past as we navigate the challenges and opportunities of today." - Linda A. Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and coauthor of Collective Genius
"It's an entertaining read. Scott examines a series of major disruptions through history. Even in the chapters where I was broadly aware of the history (the printing press, the Model T Ford, the iPhone), Scott brings pithy insights. And he chooses some fun examples too." - Nick Studer, CEO of Oliver Wyman
