So often, the stories we tell in business are about stability, dependability and predictability. Trends, market share and proof-of-concept are all business theories founded upon large groups of people buying the same product, sharing the same idea, and then making sure they continue to do so in the future. But oftentimes, the story of the contrarian can be just as powerful. Two recent experiences have me thinking about the power of disruptive ideas and why offering a dissenting view can lead to important change.
In November, I was invited by a friend to a fundraising breakfast for the Women’s Funding Alliance. The keynote speaker that morning was journalist Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, author of the best-selling book The Dressmaker of Khair Khana. In her book, Tzemach Lemmon details the brave young women of Kabul during the early years of the Taliban rule, who took great risks to build a thriving dressmaking business and underground school for girls in a time where women and girls were banned from the streets and beaten for showing their faces in public. The young women profiled in her book not only survived the brutal regime, but they thrived as entrepreneurs to provide an entire neighborhood with jobs, education and hope of a better life.
According to Tzemach Lemmon, she seeks out and tells these women’s stories because she believes that society invests in survivors, but not victims. So often the reports from conflict regions of the world portray women as victims of violence, or showcase women who are forced to beg or prostitute to feed their families. While these facts are undeniable, it is also important to tell the very real stories of women and their ability to cope and thrive under extremely difficult circumstances. The willingness of these women to share their stories of survival could have a profound impact on whether the world invests in their families to promote peace in their communities, or ignores the victims and conflict continues.
The second experience that has me thinking about the power of disruptive ideas is work Communiqué PR is doing with SR Education Group, which publishes websites and an online guide that help students select an online college. Online education, though more convenient and often more affordable for many students, carries a negative stigma thanks in part to a U.S. Senate report published this past June that condemned for-profit colleges for low graduation rates and high student loan default rates.
Rather than favor non-profit online schools over for-profit schools, SR Education Group instead is helping students select the best online college for their individual needs by bringing more transparency to the process of comparing and selecting an online college, regardless of its business model. Its Guide to Online Schools provides rankings and information about graduate rates, retention rates, loan repayment rates and a database of nearly 4,000 student reviews that provide first-person experiences from those who have enrolled in specific programs. So instead of embracing the popular perception that for-profit education is bad, SR Education is building upon its mission of making a quality education accessible to all by offering tools and information that empower potential students to research schools and find colleges that offer exceptional value for the cost.
As a result, SR Education Group and the Guide to Online schools are gaining media attention and growing their databases of student reviewers and online colleges daily.
These are just two recent examples of how ideas contrary to the popular way of thinking are helping promote change, empower individuals and ultimately improve lives. But I am sure there are many more examples of businesses with disruptive ideas that would benefit from a wider audience. At Communiqué PR we look forward to learning about these ideas and sharing the stories in the coming year.