10 Game-Changing Innovations Outside of AI That Should Inspire CMOs

Summary

This piece, framed around Scott D. Anthony’s book Epic Disruptions, argues CMOs must treat disruption as an engine of progress rather than a one-off crisis. The author positions CMOs as strategic orchestrators of digital transformation — responsible not only for brand and promotion but for shaping customer experience and new digital offerings. By studying historical breakthroughs (from gunpowder and the printing press to Ford, the transistor and the iPhone), the article extracts practical lessons: innovation is collective, often comes from refinement not invention, requires patient investment and partnerships, and can both create and erase markets.

Key case studies covered include: the printing press, Florence Nightingale’s data revolution, Henry Ford’s democratisation of the car, the transistor’s ecosystem-driven evolution, Julia Child’s reinvention, McDonald’s process innovation, Pampers’ small-but-critical product fixes, Nucor’s adaptive play versus Bethlehem Steel, and the iPhone’s long arc of cumulative innovation. The piece closes by urging CMOs to look back for patterns that can guide future bets across AI and other emerging frontiers such as cleantech, autonomous vehicles, mixed reality and smart health.

Key Points

CMOs are now central orchestrators of digital transformation and customer experience, not just marketing execution.
Reframe disruption: it simplifies complexity and makes the expensive affordable — a driver of progress, not only chaos.
Learn from history—past disruptions reveal repeatable patterns and practical playbooks for today’s waves of change.
Innovation is collective: breakthroughs emerge from ecosystems, partnerships and persistent teams, not lone geniuses.
The innovator’s dilemma remains—listening only to current customers risks missing tomorrow’s needs.
Small, targeted fixes (product or process) can win markets just as effectively as radical invention.
Patient investment and strategic partnerships turn early technologies (like the transistor) into industry-defining platforms.
Disruption can erase entire markets; staying adaptive is essential to avoid irrelevance.
Bold, cumulative bets (the iPhone example) reshape markets but require long-term commitment and risk tolerance.
Data matters only when it drives action and change; metrics should tie directly to customer and business outcomes.

Why should I read this?

Short version: if you’re a CMO who’s tired of reacting to the latest shiny tool, this is the tidy, story-rich reminder you need. It condenses decades of disruptive history into practical lessons you can use to spot weak signals, justify patient bets and design systems that survive (and exploit) change. We read it so you don’t have to — but you should skim the original if you want the stories and examples that make the lessons stick.