Disrupt with 'Californication'

"It's the edge of the world
And all of western civilization
The sun may rise in the East
At least it settles in the final location
It's understood that Hollywood
Sells Californication"

A portion of the lyrics to The Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Californication' released 15 years ago ring more true in 2014 than ever before. Maybe the one line that should be changed is, "It's understood that 'Silicon Valley' sells Californication." We all know the power of influence shifted from the Hollywood film industry to Northern California tech over a decade ago.

I've now lived on both coasts. The East and the West. New York City and currently Seattle. I remember when we moved my wife saying, "I want you to remember something. No matter what, New York and the East Coast will always be the center of the universe." This may sound like left coast snobbery but the progressive business attitude and ethos of birthing new disruptive business ideas or what we might call 'neo-Californication' has ushered in an unstoppable tide of accelerative change. This thinking isn't new. In fact it was set in place almost 30 plus years ago in the valley with the likes of Intel and Apple and the recent uprisings from smaller players such as Square, WhatsApp and Uber.

This attitude has certainly spread to every edge of the world. In fact, every startup dreams of becoming the next big thing by disrupting the old order. Unfortunately, traditional industries afraid of this unstoppable tide are trying to step in and legislate or consolidate to protect their turf rather than adapt their own disruptive ethos. These businesses, rooted in tradition rather than in a dynamic marketplace worldview, need to learn they won't win by trying to battle disruption. Disruptive innovation and customer-centric thinking are too powerful for government legislation to upend the tide now seen as mainstream in business culture.

Note that this isn't a geographic debate. There are companies all over the world that emulate this way of thinking. This is, rather, a discussion on how to critically think and view the world. There are plenty of companies located worldwide that have adopted the 'Californication' attitude. So why do traditional industry algorithmic models think they can't be toppled? We've been down this path before and the incumbents always lose. Here's three examples where those with a "Right Coast" mentality can adapt before becoming irrelevant:

1. Napster vs. Music Industry - In 1998 Napster reared its head based on the human behavior of music audiences already sharing mp3 files. Startups don't start out of nothing. They start because they want to solve a business problem. How does one discover and share music digitally? The music industry didn't have a solution so Sean Parker and Sean Fanning created their own. The music industry and the RIAA tried to sue it away when one of the large distributors like EMI or Sony should have bought it and made it their digital distribution network. Later, another 'Californication' thinker Steve Jobs built the iTunes empire on the back of Napster's blazed trail. The music industry as we knew it faded away, worth $10 billion less than what it could have been if it had not got caught up in traditional thinking.

2. Facebook vs. Ad Industry - Facebook started in Boston but really took off when it moved to California. "Facebook is not an advertising medium," WPP CEO Martin Sorrell once said (he also said the same thing about Twitter). It didn't have to be. It was a social sharing network with big data in mind to help segment and target messaging and allow its users to help spread messaging via sharing, comments and likes. The network ushered in real time, social relationship management. Something more akin to the new world where everyone has a smartphone and TV cord cutting and fast forwarding on your DVR has become the norm. Then, in a real bold move, went for the jugular and offered what many call neo-display advertising. Madmen advertising was destroyed as a result of outliers. Omincom and Publicis' consolidation mirrors what the record labels did in the early 00s before they sunk. It won't be much longer until the billing rate model collapses what remains of the old world agency model. Californication 2 Traditionalists 0.

3. Tesla vs. Car Dealers - We've bought cars for generations by going to a dealer, choosing a model, siting down and haggling. But Tesla wants us to go a different route: visit a shopping mall storefront, then purchase direct from the company who will ship the car to you. Tesla is bypassing the middleperson which cuts a layer of cost in their model to deal directly with the customer. It's a page ripped from how the social web works. You don't go to a middle person to talk with a brand, you talk with them direct now using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, etc. The problem is, Tesla is upending the traditional way of how cars were bought and sold. Arizona, New Jersey, Virginia, and Texas have taken the most severe steps to outlaw Tesla, while Ohio and Colorado have recently placed limits on Tesla sales. To me Tesla is thinking of the customer first. The dealers? They're thinking of a tired model most customers hate. This one has yet to be played out but I think we all know how it's going to end.

"Tidal waves couldn't save the world from Californication."

Geoffrey Colon is a thought leader and influencer at Microsoft. Engage with him on Twitter @djgeoffe, read his blog futuristlab.tumblr.com, listen to his Disruptive Innovation FM broadcast on Spreaker or connect with him in real life in Seattle, Washington.