Discusses the courageous decision by Royal Navy chief Admiral Jacky Fisher to engage in creative destruction by launching HMS Dreadnought, a new battleship that made the installed base obsolete, and it was there that Britain had a commanding lead

1. © Prof. J-B.E.M. Steenkamp
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Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp
C. Knox Massey Distinguished Professor of Marketing
Executive Director AiMark
Honorary Professor EIASM (Brussels)
Master Class given at the U.S. Military Academy West Point
Admiral Jacky Fisher and the Art of
Disruptive Leadership

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The need for disruptive leadership
• After relative strategic tranquility in the 1990s, the strategic situation
is changing (deteriorating) fast

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New capabilities

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The need for disruptive leadership
• After relative strategic tranquility in the 1990s, the strategic situation
is changing (deteriorating) fast
• Disruption in business
2010 2019
Global
Rank
Brand Brand value
($bn)
Brand Brand value
($bn)
1. Google 114 Amazon 316
2. IBM 86 Apple 310
.3 Apple 83 Google 309
4. Microsoft 76 Microsoft 251
5. Coca-Cola 68 Visa 178
6. McDonald’s 66 Facebook 159
7. Marlboro 57 Alibaba 131
8. China Mobile 52 Tencent 131
9. GE 45 McDonald’s 130
10. Vodafone 44 AT&T 108

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The need for disruptive leadership
• After relative strategic tranquility in the 1990s, the strategic situation
is changing (deteriorating) fast
• Disruption in economic life
• New business models

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Yet disruptive leadership is hard!
“It must be considered that there is nothing more
difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor
more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new
order of things; for the reformer has enemies in all
those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm
defenders in all those who would profit by the new
order; this lukewarmness arising partly from the
incredulity of mankind who does not truly believe in
anything new until they actually have experience of
it.”
BUT IT CAN BE DONE!

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The world’s superpower in 1900
Source: Kennedy (1987), The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers

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The threat of the German Reich

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Britain’s Navy problems
• From 1900 on, Germany
dramatically accelerated its
navy expansion programs
• Royal Navy plagued by culture
of complacency and
conservatism - “Anything new
was suspicious and potentially
dangerous.”
“There were no torpedoes when he
came to sea and he did not see why the
devil there should be any of the beastly
things now.” - First Sea Lord

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Britain’s Navy problems
• From 1900 on, Germany
dramatically accelerated its
navy expansion programs
• Royal Navy plagued by culture
of complacency and
conservatism - “Anything new
was suspicious and potentially
dangerous.”
• Promotion tracks determined
by social class of cadets
• Technical skills (gunnery)
slipping

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Cometh the hour, cometh the man –
Admiral Jacky Fisher’s reforms
• All ranks open for all cadets
• Redistribution the fleet

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Redistribution of the fleet
Source: Kennedy (1976), The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery

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Cometh the hour, cometh the man –
Admiral Jacky Fisher’s reforms
• All ranks open for all cadets
• Redistribution the fleet
• Scrapped countless older ships
• Introduced the ship that would render
all existing battleships obsolete

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H.M.S. Dreadnought
• Ten 12-inch
guns, and no
small guns
• Steam turbine
engines – made
ship 50% faster
than any
existing ships
• Many other
innovations

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H.M.S. Dreadnought

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Armageddon on the high seas

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How did Fisher pull it off? – What can you
learn from that?
THIRST FOR PURPOSEFUL CHANGE
 Challenge, analyze, learn
 Experiment with alternative solutions
• Fisher was continuously thinking about new (potential)
threats and how they might be addressed using new
thinking and solutions.
• Towering self-confidence combined with being open to
ideas regarding the execution
• Fisher ran countless experiments to see which
solution to the threats identified by him works best
Examples

19. © Prof. J-B.E.M. Steenkamp
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How did Fisher pull it off? – What can you
learn from that?
THIRST FOR PURPOSEFUL CHANGE
Challenge, analyze, learn
Experiment with alternative solutions
• Fisher was continuously thinking about new (potential)
threats and how they might be addressed using new
thinking and solutions.
• Towering self-confidence combined with being open to
ideas regarding the execution
• Fisher ran countless experiments to see which
solution to the threats identified by him works best.
Examples
BOLD STRATEGIC VISION
 Prioritize long term over short term
 High tolerance of uncertainty
• Fisher accepted (certain!) short-term pain for
(uncertain) long-term gain
• Fisher recognized that as the leading maritime power
of the day, Britain should lead – not follow - in naval
innovation
• Fisher was willing to take risks. This is “unnatural!”

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Accept (certain!) short term pain for (uncertain)
long gain
Country Battleships
(1897)1)
Great Britain 62
France 36
Russia 18
Germany 12
Italy 12
U.S. 11
Japan 7
Country Large/medium
aircraft carriers
(2019)1)
U.S. 11
China 1
France 1
U.K. 1
Russia 1
India 1
1) The total combined deckspace of U.S. carriers is
over twice that of all other nations combined;
Source: Wikipedia
1) Kennedy (1976), The Rise and Fall of British
Naval Mastery

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Accept (certain!) short term pain for (uncertain)
long gain

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Cometh “The Club”
Share of U.S. market by value (%)
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Gillette 65.4 60.8 56.2 53.0 52.8
DSC 2.2 5.2 7.7 9.4 10.5

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Do you need to be the leader – not a fast
follower - in innovation?
“Nobody was building them and if anyone had started building them,
we, with our greater shipbuilding resources, could have built them
faster than any country in the world.”
- David Lloyd George in parliament
DO YOU AGREE?

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Organizational inertia versus entrepreneurship
in the military and in business
• The British (& U.S.) versus German military concept in
1917-1918 and in WW-II

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Organizational inertia versus entrepreneurship
in the military and in business
• The British (& U.S.) versus German military concept in
1917-1918 and in WW-II
• The rise of small firms
Sales growth CPG
2012 - 2016
$ (bn) %
Small firms 30.6 53%
Medium firms 15.6 17%
Large firms 3.6 5%

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Organizational inertia versus entrepreneurship
in the military and in business
• The British (& U.S.) versus German military concept in
1917-1918 and in WW-II
• The rise of small brands
• Incubation units in large companies

27. © Prof. J-B.E.M. Steenkamp
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How did Fisher pull it off? – What can you
learn from that?
THIRST FOR PURPOSEFUL CHANGE
Challenge, analyze, learn
Experiment with alternative solutions
• Fisher was continuously thinking about new (potential)
threats and how they might be addressed using new
thinking and solutions.
• Towering self-confidence combined with being open to
ideas regarding the execution
• Fisher ran countless experiments to see which solution to
the threats identified by him works best.
Examples
BOLD STRATEGIC VISION
 Prioritize long term over short term
 High tolerance of uncertainty
EXECUTE YOUR VISION
 Build “networks of the willing”
 Grit
 Bottomless energy
• Resistance will be fierce. Without people who have your
back, don’t even start. Fisher cultivated Balfour & the King
• Build a loyal set of followers
• Unrelenting focus and perseverance are needed. Fisher’s
life was the Royal Navy, period.
• Disruptive change sucks up all the energy you have.
Fisher was happiest if he could plunge into his work 24/7.
• Fisher accepted (certain!) short-term pain for
(uncertain) long-term gain
• Fisher recognized that as the leading maritime power
of the day, Britain should lead – not follow - in naval
innovation
• Fisher was willing to take risks. This is “unnatural!”

28. © Prof. J-B.E.M. Steenkamp
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Is disruptive leadership for you – either in the Army or in the civilian
world? Now? In 5-10 years?
 If you get a new position, is one of the first things you do looking for ways how to do things better? Do
you embrace change, or only when it there is no other way? Can you give examples?
 Do you habitually monitor and analyze the environment for new opportunities and threats to the
organization and how they might be addressed? Can you give an example of such behavior in the last
year?
 Do you test the waters before committing to a course of action, or are you more prone to “plunge in the
deep?”
 Do others generally consider you a strategic, long-term thinker or a person who excels on operational
details? What kind of examples can you give of your strategic thinking and actions?
 Are you able to endure short-term pain for potentially greater payoff in the future? Can you give
examples?
 How comfortable are you with high levels of uncertainty? Look at your own life. Did you take major
risks in it?
 Consider your career path. To what extent did networking connections play a role in arriving at your
present position? How much do you “owe” others? How often have you voiced opinions that went
against your peers or superiors? How did you feel about that?
 Looking back at your life, is this characterized by a relentless focus on one, or at most two,
overarching goals?
 Compared to others, would you characterize yourself as somebody who does not give up in the face of
organizational resistance or practical obstacles? Are you a resilient person who can (relatively) easily
rebound from setbacks and weather criticism? Can you give examples of this in your recent past?
 Take a close look at yourself. Do you have the energy to be a disruptive leader?

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Further reading
https://www.amazon.com/Time-Lead-Lessons-Leaders-
Decisions/dp/1734324821/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2N7SX0D10MQKT&
dchild=1&keywords=jan-
benedict+steenkamp&qid=1587481667&s=books&sprefix=jan-
ben%2Caps%2C156&sr=1-2