Klaas forwarded an interesting concept I didn’t know before: the incumbents curse. An incumbent is a company or institute that is currently active. Their curse often goes against disruptors that are trying to get something new going which they see as a threat to their business. Current examples are taxi drivers protesting against what Uber is trying to do, or Airbnb which is facing stringent regulations partly because the lobby of the current hotel industry.

Interestingly, if you look at the past, there are quite a few examples of disruptions that have been opposed by all kinds of resistance. For example, British canal companies asked Parliament to block the railways (obviously without success).

It is pretty easy to view those parties as stupid because they didn’t see the obvious. Interestingly, this is way more difficult to see if you’re at the other side of the table. It’s good to know that if you look at history, you have a far better chance of survival if you cooperate and keep reinventing yourself. Actively blocking new concepts and initiatives is almost never beneficial for anyone.