Succession Stories EP207: Disruptive Innovation, Luke Williams - The Entrepreneur Gene Series

July 20, 2025•1 min read

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“Entrepreneurship is in everyone. It just gets expressed in different ways.” Luke Williams

Show host Laurie Barkman welcomes Luke Williams, Founder/CEO of IdeaSkills and Clinical Associate Professor of Innovation and Design at NYU Stern School of Business.

They discuss whether entrepreneurship can be taught and delve into the importance of fostering innovative mindsets within established companies. Luke shares insights from his book 'Disrupt' and discusses the balance between maintaining business continuity and introducing disruptive ideas.

Luke also emphasizes the significance of learning over investment and provides advice for business owners struggling with innovation. The episode concludes with Luke's journey from Australia to becoming an educator and innovation expert and his passion for creating more competent innovators.

Takeaways:

Continuously work on developing the capabilities needed to be competitive in the future alongside keeping the existing business running. This is crucial for maintaining a balance between today’s needs and future opportunities.
Create diverse teams to ensure a wide range of perspectives and ideas. This diversity can foster innovative thinking and help develop balanced solutions that might not emerge from a homogenous group.
Encourage the influx of fresh, disruptive thinking and assess the value of ideas based on how much they help the organization learn and adapt.
Develop a “test and learn” budget to experiment with new ideas without the pressure of immediate returns. Allow small-scale testing of innovative ideas to see what works and can then be scaled up.

Watch the full YouTube Episode here:

Connect with Luke Williams:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukegwilliams/
Website: https://www.youtube.com/@IdeaSkills
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Disrupt-Think-Unthinkable-Transformation-Business/dp/0137025149

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Laurie Barkman

Laurie Barkman, founder of The Business Transition Sherpa®, helps business owners sell their business on their terms. A former CEO who led a $100M company through acquisition, she brings real-world experience to every transition conversation.

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