From Skeptic to Advocate: Embracing Creative Destruction Through Technology

I’ve been hearing and reading a lot this summer and fall about a renewed fear of technology.? From artificial intelligence to virtual reality, there seems to be a major focus on technology as a malign influence. Yes, of course, we should be cautious to use technology within an ethical framework with guardrails to protect society, but technology is a tool that can make things better: make work smarter, make tasks easier and expand the potential of the people who use those tools.

Embracing new technologies is fundamental to the principle of creative destruction, one of the key principles Koch uses to manage our business. Creative destruction means tearing down existing ways of thinking and processes to create something that is better – better for the employee, better for the product and better for the customer. We want an environment where our people are driving creative destruction, not fearful of it.

I was thinking about that the other day when I was reading about Robert Ray. Robert works for one of the world’s largest nylon producers – INVISTA, a Koch company. He trains colleagues on how to operate the massive nylon spinning machines. The machines are complex and can be intimidating for new employees. When Robert was introduced to the idea of using virtual reality to train people on the machines, he felt that it wouldn’t work – only real hands-on training would work.

But once he tried it, he instantly saw the advantages. It’s simple, immersive, and makes the process of training easier because you can take the training to the employee, rather than having to bring the employee to the spinning machine for each session.? Once he saw that VR was a tool to help him do his job better, he became a huge advocate of VR training. In fact, he’s now helping to design new VR technologies, and he’s become an innovation specialist at INVISTA.? Robert’s personal path to self-actualize is a powerful response to the fear-based messages about new technologies.