Can disruption create a masterpiece?

Perspective fosters the evolution of art and industry

Everyone’s perspective is different. Individual viewpoints can, however, sometimes reach a tipping point and redefine what might be regarded a “masterpiece” on a collective level.

The concept of perspectives is a fundamental principle not only in art, but also when driving innovation in business. Often, the right perspective makes all the difference: it could be the perspective of a new kind of customer, or that of a competitor – or a different industry altogether.

Years ago, EY’s client work focused primarily within the remit of a particular sector or value chain. The idea of disruption was viewed through an industry lens, instead of through the perspective of convergence.

Today, we live in a transformative age in which cross-industry ecosystems are reshaping marketplaces and companies’ roles within them. Businesses are now looking at digital from every angle and bringing the outside in. Apparel brands sell internet of things (IoT) enabled wearables to monitor fitness and encourage healthier lifestyles. Social media giants seek banking licenses and compete for our wallets. Technology companies are making fewer music players – instead, producing batteries to keep electric vehicles running. And artificial intelligence (AI) powered assistants increasingly manage household purchases, thereby creating shopping-buying divergence.

Companies from different sectors bring their own perspectives to create digitally-enabled ecosystems, underpinned by new operating models. In this way, a business masterpiece is evolving, and it will impact civilization on the most fundamental level: by re-imagining what it means to move, work, eat, play or be healthy.

Ecosystems of businesses will increasingly collaborate and share in order to compete and grow.

Convergence is giving rise to new industries that will guide investment in the future and the policy that shapes it, enabling opportunities such as smart neighbourhoods, mobility ecosystems, energy marketplaces and precision health 4.0. Each opportunity will create services or customer propositions that require collaboration between industries that, often, have never needed to interact with one another.

“My personal view is that companies have to collaborate if they are going to be successful in the future – indeed, if they are to survive.” EY Global Vice Chair Alison Kay

We put this to the test with EY Convergence Lab, an exclusive gathering of executives convened to explore the power of converging industries, including 100 selected C-suite participants from 16 sectors around hotspots such as urbanization, healthcare, investment and wellbeing.

Together, executives that attended embraced perspectives from other industries. They agreed that the key to successfully navigating industry disruption is to develop partnerships and ecosystems: currently, we are only on the cusp of this, but leading companies are building the networks, connections and business model flexibility necessary to get there.

It requires a clearly defined methodology to bring businesses from different sectors together and create something new – just as it takes well-refined techniques to make great art.

Through EY Convergence Lab, we consolidated months of innovation debate and strategy planning into a single day - and brought together various sector leaders to discuss how they could create new roles for their organizations in future ecosystems. The discussions continue to take place all around the world; from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this February, to Innovation Realized in Amsterdam next April and World Entrepreneur of the Year Forum  in Monaco next June – as stakeholders ranging from CEOs to legislative panels and community leaders work to redefine a better future.

I attended EY’s Future Consumer Now hackathon in LA last month, where we explored future ecosystems with clients from consumer products, technology, retail and insurance companies – among others. We discussed how relationships are being developed across industry lines and how they will transform every aspect of how business is done. I see more visionary leaders making our lives better by addressing complex problems outside pre-defined sector boundaries. And just like the way we consume and view art, perspective will be shaped by the beholder.

“By being able to bring together these different viewpoints from the private sector, philanthropy, and the public sector, we are able to achieve greater and more efficient outcomes,” one Convergence Lab attendee said. “We’re finding that if you bring disparate viewpoints to the table sooner rather than later and ask them to be part of collaboration and solution-making, you’re not only able to get a better outcome, but buy-in for that solution.”

In today’s business world, the way a modern master deconstructs traditional techniques while creating something new might represent a new way to create a masterpiece.

Traditional masters such as John William Waterhouse created masterpieces from the state of perfection. Such perfection was turned upside down by artists such as Malevich in the revolutionary 1913 Black Square on a white ground. In the process, the concept of what was widely regarded to be a “masterpiece” was redefined.

Picasso spent 15 years studying the techniques of his painting – he would design a piece of art almost to perfection, and then totally deconstruct it by applying his tried and tested techniques. Powered by this particular technique, the deconstructed style actually became a new art form – a masterpiece appreciated by many.

Convergence will rearrange our sectors as Picasso did his subjects; and the boundaries of industry will be redefined – in the same way that subjective art criticism once was.

From 26 February to 1 March, global leaders will gather at Mobile World Congress under the theme of “Creating a Better Future.” This insight is part of a series addressing how to seize the upside of disruption in the face of rapid change. To read more visit ey.com/mwc.