Disrupt With Impact
Navigate confidently through uncertain futures to thrive in unpredictability with practical strategies, proven frameworks, and impactful guidance from a leading global futurist and venture capitalist.
About the book
Disruption’s far-reaching effects are inevitable, bringing both unprecedented challenges and opportunities to creatively shape our futures.
Disrupt With Impact: Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World is the ultimate guide to thriving in today’s complex business landscape. It empowers you to navigate escalating uncertainty and relentless change by rethinking strategic decision-making.
Covering major challenges such as the energy transition, AI, cybersecurity, and geopolitics, this book is your compass for exploring the uncharted waters of the future. These paradigm shifts will redistribute trillions of dollars, presenting opportunities for immense value creation, while those clinging to business as usual face growing risks of value destruction.
Through fascinating research, original frameworks, and the never-before-seen proprietary Disruptive Thinking Canvas™, Disrupt With Impact offers the knowledge and confidence you need to lead your business through disruption.
“This is an engaging and very enlightening read. It’s the kind of book you can always refer to in the future.” – Manhattan Book Review
“A well-illustrated and wide-ranging new approach to large- and small-scale disruptions in the business world.” – Kirkus Reviews
“In a world full of books on how to be successful in business, Disrupt with Impact rises to the top. Pure gold!” – BookTrib Review
“…packed with information and [featuring] plenty of real-world examples, Disrupt with Impact details a host of tips and tricks that will help readers to make the most of themselves and their businesses.” – San Francisco Book Review
“...A stimulating and future-focused leadership guide, Disrupt with Impact seeks to understand and leverage the world’s unpredictability.” – Foreword Clarion Reviews
Global Media Interest for “Disrupt With Impact”
Meet the author, Roger Spitz
Before becoming a celebrated futurist, Roger Spitz served as Global Head of Technology M&A at an investment bank, advising on scores of transactions totalling $25 billion. Today, Spitz is a world-leading authority on strategic foresight and systems innovations, a venture capitalist, and an expert advisor to the World Economic Forum. He has dedicated his career to advising boards, leadership teams, and investors on strategy regarding disruptions.
Roger is president of Techistential (futures intelligence practice), chairs the Disruptive Futures Institute, and has delivered hundreds of keynotes globally, including to Capgemini, IBM, NASA, and Reuters. His frameworks, adopted by organizations worldwide, have been featured in Fast Company, Gartner, INC. Magazine, Institute of Directors, Journal of Futures Studies, MIT Technology Review, and WIRED. Based in San Francisco, Spitz is the author of five books, including the acclaimed, bestselling four-volume series “The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption” and “Disrupt With Impact: Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World”.
Key features at a glance
Disrupt With Impact offers actionable guidance on how anticipatory leaders can empower their business. Learn how to adapt, innovate, and develop strategies to prepare for future disruptions like AI, climate tech, cybersecurity, and biotech.
Featuring practical frameworks and compelling real-world case studies to foster reader confidence in strategic planning and sustainable value creation.
The Disruptive Thinking Canvas™, our proprietary toolkit. Designed as your roadmap to imagine, invent, and prototype the futures, the Disruptive Thinking Canvas offers actionable methodologies to leverage disruption and drive change.
Written by a leading futurist and authority on foresight, innovation, and sustainability, drawing upon decades of expertise as a venture capitalist and thought leader.
Table of Contents
PART ONE. Disruption has always existed – what’s different now?
In this initial section, we reframe disruption and delve into its dual nature, uncovering both challenges and possibilities. We learn the language of change, adopting new mindsets essential for thriving amidst ambient disruption. By scanning the horizon, we identify elements of constancy and discontinuity, equipping ourselves with early warning systems to anticipate inflection points.
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Reframing disruption. We reframe disruption, recognizing it is more than a discrete or recurring event; it’s now systemic, expanding its reach. We explore disruption’s dual nature, unveiling both challenges and possibilities.
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Learning language of disruption. The dynamics of change are evolving. By mastering its language, we cultivate new mindsets and capabilities crucial for thriving in uncertainty amidst ambient disruption.
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Constants and drivers of disruption. We investigate the underlying drivers of disruption and explore what remains constant. Scanning enables us to detect emerging signals of changes that could evolve to impact our options and decision-making.
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Navigating disruption to anticipate inflection points. We can proactively prepare for changes and anticipate inflection points. Anticipatory thinking equips us to navigate the ripple effects of disruptions, shape the future by driving change, and plan for whatever lies ahead.
PART TWO. How to drive systems innovation and transformational change
In Part Two, we unpack how to achieve systems-level change to create sustainable value. Surface-level innovations fall short in addressing the complexity of our challenges. As the world’s fundamental paradigms are increasingly changing, we need to account for constant disruption, which is giving rise to monumental shifts in value and business models. Those who fail to embrace sustainable change risk irrelevance. To use systemic disruption as a springboard for creating impact and value, we need to be antifragile, learn from the software industry to beta test our ideas, and think across varying time horizons. In this context, we delve into Greenaissance - an era marked by renewal, momentous innovation, and investment opportunities, all aligned with the common goal of achieving a sustainable energy transition. We also explore how the clearly delineated “sectors” of yesterday are disappearing, as industries converge and new fields emerge.
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Antifragile value creation across time horizons. Disruption presents both opportunities for value creation and risks of value erosion. Relevance is the key driver of impact. To achieve and sustain relevance, we must invest in human capital, “beta test” ideas, establish antifragile foundations for resilience, and think across varying time horizons.
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Driving transformation with systems innovation. Climate change, societal paradigm shifts, emerging technologies; the world’s most critical challenges are complex. Addressing these requires systems-level change, not isolated fixes. Systems innovation is instrumental to identifying and harnessing effective levers to enable widespread change across complex systems.
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Greenaissance as a path to sustainable futures. In the face of climate risks, mitigation and building resilience are essential. Greenaissance, a green revolution fueled by momentous innovation and investment across fields, offers a path towards a sustainable energy future.
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Sectors converge, intersect and emerge. The clearly delineated “industries” or “sectors” of yesterday are disappearing. The futures are hybrid; in this liminal world, there are no industry boundaries. The magic happens as intersections create new fields.
PART THREE. The future of artificial intelligence, strategic decision-making and technology
This section examines the defining technologies of the upcoming decade and their potential for growth, disruption, and unintended consequences. We dive into the profound impact of artificial intelligence on strategic decision-making. We also examine “info-ruption” - a radical shift in the disruption of information, presenting new phenomena like weaponized disinformation and global cybersecurity threats. At the core of our investigation lies the “AAA” framework - Antifragile, Anticipatory, and Agility. These essential skills are key to decision-making in an increasingly unpredictable world where machines continuously learn.
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Technology, innovation and unintended consequences. What are the features of technology, its powers and unintended consequences? How can we anticipate future impacts in a complex technological world? We cannot predict the future, but we can gain insights to help us understand emerging technologies that will deeply impact society and humanity.
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Decision-making and relevance in the age of AI. AI is taking over areas previously thought too important to entrust to machines. Thus far, humans have excelled at decision-making, but our comparative advantage may not last. We use the Antifragile, Anticipatory, and Agility (AAA) framework to explore these traits, which humans should develop to improve their abilities as machines are learning fast.
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Information disrupted. “Info-ruption” refers to a pervasive and radical shift in how information is interpreted, used, and misused. With daily cybersecurity breaches, Weapons of Mass Disinformation (WMD), and the Internet of Existence (IoE), should information literacy be prioritized akin to language education? Epistemic security now rivals the significance of national security.
PART FOUR. Unleash your disruptive thinking
This final chapter introduces our practitioner Disruptive Thinking Canvas™. Disruption creates space for novelty, opening doors for fresh approaches. Uncertainty and fast-changing environments drive new opportunities and gaps. Disruptive thinking allows you to find those gaps and explore them to invent the future today. Our proprietary Disruptive Thinking Canvas™ is your dynamic roadmap - a process to design, implement, and drive disruption for yourself, your projects, or your organization. It’s not just a canvas; it’s your actionable toolkit to uncover and create disruptive futures on your terms, with tools designed to develop new mindsets for driving impact.
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A canvas to invent your future. Our Disruptive Thinking Canvas™ is designed as a roadmap to help us imagine, invent, and prototype the futures we want. The Canvas offers actionable methodologies to leverage disruption and drive systemic change, both organizational and individual, designed with practical tools.
Praise
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Combining strategic foresight and systems dynamics principles, ‘Disrupt with Impact’ offers a framework and tools for confidently moving ahead in an uncertain world. Readers will find value in case studies on business themes from bluetech to open banking, lessons from successes and failures, and new opportunities. This book will help you to harness gray rhino challenges ahead in order to become a disruptive force for good — instead of being trampled.
Michele Wucker
Author of The Gray Rhino -
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‘Disrupt With Impact’ is a must-read for anyone navigating uncertainty. Roger Spitz masterfully equips decision-makers for the steep slopes, crevasses and hazards of the world’s fast-changing environments. There are no better frameworks to help build resilience for the shocks while seizing the windows of opportunities as you creatively shape your future.
Benedikt Böhm
Executive Board Oberalp, CEO Dynafit & Extreme Ski Mountaineer, Munich, Germany -
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Uncertainty, disruptions, cascading change... Roger is uniquely qualified to address these challenges. Backed by fascinating research, practical frameworks, and his original Disruptive Thinking Canvas, Roger’s latest book ‘Disrupt With Impact’ is your operating manual for unpredictability.
Cathy Hackl
Tech Futurist, Author, and CEO of Spatial Dynamics -
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Roger Spitz’s ‘Disrupt With Impact’ is a roadmap to visionary leadership, and he is the guide we need. Spitz encourages leaders to think not only about surviving the next wave of disruption but about shaping it to their advantage — and for the greater good.
Michael J. Keegan
Leadership Fellow & Host, The Business of Government Hour, IBM Center for The Business of Government -
![Jake Sotiriadis]()
Roger has done it again! ‘Disrupt With Impact’ is an indispensable guide for navigating today's business landscape. Roger provides actionable strategies and profound insights that empower leaders to make tough decisions with confidence. Truly a must-read for anyone looking to thrive in the face of constant change.
Jake Sotiriadis
Director, the Center for Futures Intelligence, National Intelligence University -
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Organizations more than ever need to be vigilant about navigating uncertainty and disruption... their relevancy is at stake if they don’t! Roger’s Disruptive Thinking Canvas is an essential practice all organizations need to employ if they want to shape the future with impact and be around to see it. This is the “go to” guidebook for businesses who want to successfully navigate the modern world.
Kara Cunzeman
Director of Strategic Foresight at the Aerospace Corporation, Co-Founder and Chair of the Federal Foresight Advocacy Alliance, and Director of the U.S. Hub for Teach the Future -
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‘Disrupt With Impact’ is a compelling book that illuminates the complexities of our uncertain world. Through engaging examples, Roger skillfully provides practical insights that resonate deeply with today’s fast-paced environment. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your journey in strategic foresight, ‘Disrupt With Impact’ provides tools to not only survive, but excel.
Quentin Ladetto
Swiss DoD, Head of Technology Foresight and co-founder of atelierdesfuturs.org -
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Today, boards are operating in uncharted territory and navigating through unprecedented challenges and uncertainties. It is now crucial for them to learn how to turn disruptions into opportunities, leveraging innovation and strategic foresight to drive sustainable growth and resilience. ‘Disrupt with Impact’ by Roger Spitz is a perfect guide for our boardroom community. It provides comprehensive, sector-specific insights that are crucial for today’s leaders. The book introduces new concepts for governance through engaging case studies and well-explained nuances.
Manoj K Raut
CEO & Secretary-General, Institute of Directors, India -
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Roger, with his unique multi-lens perspective, offers insights on embracing disruption as a frequent phenomenon that can both destroy and create value. ‘Disrupt With Impact’ provides a practical roadmap for leaders aiming to strengthen their ‘impossibility muscles’ and make the world a better place.
Doris Viljoen
Director: Institute for Futures Research at Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa -
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Few subjects are as crucial as those covered in ‘Disrupt With Impact’, and no one understands them better than Roger. As value is either destroyed or created through change, this book is essential reading for leadership teams and investors to ensure sustainable value creation in a fast-changing world.
Sebastian Bihari
Venture Capitalist & General Partner, Vektor Partners, London, UK -
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‘Disrupt With Impact’ makes the case for organizational leaders to adopt new ways to anticipate and act in an era of exponential change. Old methods no longer suffice in our hyperconnected world. Roger gives readers the tools to flourish through systemic disruption.
David Jonker
Vice President, Head of SAP Insights Research Center -
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Roger Spitz is a visionary in strategic foresight and systems innovation, whose insights have consistently pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in business and technology. Having known him from Singularity University, I have seen firsthand his ability to inspire and challenge leaders to think deeply about sustainable futures. His book ‘Disrupt With Impact’ is a vital resource for anyone aiming to navigate and thrive amidst disruption.
Pinak Kiran Vedalankar
Global Technology Leader -
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As a futurist, I find the book to be a compelling and timely exploration of the challenges and opportunities facing leaders in our rapidly evolving world. Spitz masterfully weaves together insights on technological convergence, artificial intelligence, and the blurring of industry boundaries to paint a vivid picture of the disruptive landscape we must navigate.
Frank Diana
Reimagining the Future, Managing Partner and Principal Futurist at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Featured Press & Reviews
Roger Spitz Interview on iHeartRadio KFBK Morning News
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Roger Spitz Book Tours
Engage Roger as a speaker during his 2024 Global Book Tours to hear his insights from his latest book Disrupt With Impact. To discuss booking, whether for your teams or clients, please reach out to info@disruptivefutures.org
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