Disrupting Demand Side Sales by the “Disruptor’s Mentor”, Bob Moesta

Disruption Interruption podcast host and veteran communications disruptor, KJ Helms, interviews Bob Moesta, Founder and CEO of The Re-Wired Group — who says that in order to be a disruptor, one must know how to disrupt people by understanding their struggling moments, prioritize their work, and accelerate the progress toward solving problems.

While there are many disruptors, a large percentage of them have their own struggling moment but are naïve to the fact that there are many struggling moments that are going to come throughout the disruption process. Unfortunately, these entrepreneurs are making plans in a data vacuum, which means they are making uninformed, myopic planning decisions. They aren’t seeing the big picture and end up spending immense amounts of time on aspects of their disruption that don’t add value to what is really important — the demand side.

But enter “the Disruptor’s Mentor” Bob Moesta, Founder and CEO of The Re-Wired Group, who explains to KJ Helms, host of the Disruption / Interruption podcast, who says that the hardest part of being an entrepreneur, especially at the low end, is knowing that not everything has to be perfect before launch and what trade-offs they are willing to accept so that people can begin to make progress. They must be able to see the natural priorities and learn what they don’t know instead of trying to prove what they know so they can speed up the development of the work.

After suffering a brain injury as a child, Bob had to learn in different ways and soon discovered that he was always curious — and could ask the questions that would get him smart on a topic fast. He honed this skill through a series of mentors and discovered his three kernels to remember everything — the where, when, and the who. These are the skills he utilizes to get to the crux of what disruptors are trying to do.

Bob explains:

1. Two critical steps that are required for successful disruption: the first is that people don’t purchase products — rather, they hire them. The second is having the capacity to empathize with the tough times that lead toward disruption.
2. Disruptors come from the low end; in other words, they don’t have much in the beginning, and they are frequently obscure at the time until they become bigger.
3. To recognize a struggling moment, you must understand not only who is struggling, but also the what, when, where, and why of the struggle.
4. Entrepreneurs frequently get preoccupied over ensuring that something is flawless, which then bogs down the whole process of trying to get the entire system working.
5. Demand is there regardless of whether not there is supply. Demand is about where people intend to make headway, but they are unable.
6. The pandemic pushed people to think outside the box regarding their jobs. It permitted them to make exchanges and obtain positions that were better fits for them in other ways.
7. Be aware of what is going on in the world and push to solve some of the issues that people have but don’t know it yet (i.e., how Apple made better cameras in their phones).

Disruption Interruption is the podcast where you’ll hear from today’s biggest Industry Disruptors. Learn what motivated them to bring about change and how they overcome opposition to adoption.

Quote of the show:

4:08 “So the first part is understanding the progress. The second part is then understanding basically how to actually serve the low end, where you’re just better than nothing. So almost all disruptors come from the low end and they are dismissed by the incumbents because they’re just seen as well, they’re just toying in something else. Like how banks looked at PayPal or Square as well, ‘they’re just a payment processor.’
All of a sudden now they’re bank. And they’re going to actually be bigger than most banks very soon. And so disruptors come in from the low end and they serve the underserved.”

About Bob Moesta:
Bob Moesta — one of the principal architects of the Jobs to be Done theory and founder of The Re-Wired Group. Since developing the Jobs to be Done theory the mid-90s along with Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, Bob has continued to develop, advance and apply the innovation framework to everyday business challenges. A lifetime learner, Bob holds degrees from Michigan State University, Harvard Business School and Stanford University. He has studied extensively at Boston University’s School of Management and at MIT School of Engineering. He is a fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute and is a guest lecturer at the Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Entrepreneurship and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Visit him at https://therewiredgroup.com/.

And lastly, if you’re a disruptor…

I would like to chat with Karla Jo about maximizing my Disruptive Thought Leadership — contact KJ Helms.

I’d like to learn about the ROI of Anti-PR — download this ROI eBook.

I would like to apply to be a guest on Disruption Interruption.