Disrupt Yourself

After "Silicon Valley" and "Silicon Germany", "Disrupt Yourself" is the third book by one of my favorite authors, Christoph Keese. Since I practically “devoured” the first two volumes, I approached "Disrupt Yourself" with correspondingly high expectations. In this review, you'll find out whether they were met and why disrupting your own job is so important.

Christoph Keese experiences first-hand what disruption means when, as a representative of the established media, he comes up against bloggers.

We hear more and more often that many jobs will no longer be needed due to the advancing digital transformation. Out of sheer convenience, we brush this off with the thought that it will definitely hit the others - after all, we're irreplaceable in our own job. A dangerous misconception, as Christoph Keese impressively shows us again and again.

One basis for the book is the 2013 study "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?" by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne. According to it, around 47 % of US jobs are at risk. The projection for the rest of the world doesn't look much better.

With this grim forecast, Christoph Keese then moves on to a more detailed analysis: in each chapter, he offers suggestions on how to counter the threat. He does this in a very readable, vivid and easy-to-understand way. He keeps coming back to his own job profile and the measures he intends to take to escape "self-disruption". That makes what he says relatable.

As the title says, "Disrupt Yourself" addresses the very concrete danger that our own job profile, in its current form, probably won't exist forever either. A fact we simply have to face, but are far too often blind to!

If you've been looking for evidence that your own job won't last forever either, you'll find it in this book. As usual for Christoph Keese, he keeps trying to include practical examples from his own experiences. The book is certainly not a theory book, not a pure management book and not a pure leadership guide either. It's a great reminder of how changeable our work is, and one worth heeding.

If you've read Christoph Keese's earlier books, you'll find yourself at home here too. However, it's not a must to have read the first two books, and you don't need any special prior or background knowledge.

If you've read the first two books, you'll sometimes think "I've heard something like that before". And indeed, not all of the aspects covered are new. Nevertheless, the book can stand on its own. Examples from companies like Flixbus or from politics make us as readers shake our heads in disbelief a few times. I was able to gain new insights in several places and always felt entertained, but it doesn't come close to "Silicon Valley".

You can read my book review of "Silicon Germany" here.