Think of digital disruption as a gift

- Companies get into trouble when they view disruptive innovations as a threat rather than an opportunity. Those who choose to ride the tiger stand a much better chance. The invention of the automobile posed a mortal threat to companies that made carriages. Carriage manufacturers tried to hold back progress including lobbying Congress to pass laws to hinder the rise of the new horseless carriages, to no avail. But there was one lone survivor, Studebaker. Founded in 1852, Studebaker entered the automobile business in 1902. Successful for much of its history, the company survived until 1966. Digital disruption poses a similar choice. Companies have much better odds of survival and success if they view it as a gift rather than a problem. The Washington Post provides an excellent example. Pummeled by the rise of digital media, the Post found itself on the proverbial glide path to history. First, online listing services ate up classified advertising. Then, facing onslaught from eCommerce, retailers started cutting full page ads and inserts. Finally, putting salt on the wound, as people could get plenty of news for free online, subscribers started leaving in droves. To cut costs, the Post started closing bureaus around the world. This made the paper even less interesting to subscribers, creating a vicious spiral. In 2013, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos purchased the Washington Post. He kept the Post's leadership intact, kept a light touch on his new purchase, and acted primarily as a business philosopher. His first mantra: look at the internet as a gift. The transformation began with turning the Post on its head. Instead of it being a physical product that readers could also access online, the leaders started managing it as an online mobile product, a small subset of whose articles could also come out in print. Soon, the Post was publishing over 1000 online articles each day, including many shorter pieces featuring breaking news. The articles were refreshed several times each day as new developments unfolded. As the subscriber base started building back, the Post signed a partnership deal with nearly 100 smaller newspapers. They could feature Post content on their websites and apps, in return for a share of the advertising revenue. Within less than three years, the Post had jumped ahead of the New York Times in terms of readership and was within striking distance of BuzzFeed, a purely online media outlet. A phenomenal turn-around, based on a single insight: look at the internet as a gift. Given digital disruption, what will separate the winners from the losers in your industry?