When Harvard Business School Online launched Disruptive Strategy in June 2014, Clayton Christensen described it as, “a compass, not a roadmap—a guiding theory of disruption and innovation that provides a tremendous advantage in finding the way to success in a world where change has never been more rapid and the demands on managers have never been greater.”
Those demands have only intensified. Digital transformation is reshaping every industry. Emerging technologies, like AI, are redefining how organizations create value and compete. Leaders must not only respond to disruption but anticipate it—and position their organizations to thrive.
To meet the moment, HBS Online is launching an updated version of Disruptive Strategy on May 27, 2026, featuring new content led by Willy Shih, the Robert and Jane Cizik Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice in Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
Building on Christensen’s enduring theory of disruptive innovation, Shih introduces additional frameworks and perspectives to help you turn disruption into action and develop executive-level strategy that drives sustainable growth.
What’s New in Disruptive Strategy?
To help you make sense of disruption, Shih introduces the four-box framework—value proposition, resources, processes, and profit formula—a powerful tool to evaluate how business models succeed, and fail, in the face of change. You’ll learn how to identify your organization’s vulnerabilities and where growth opportunities may exist.
You’ll also explore a new lesson on organizational culture and its role in innovation. Through a real-world example from Norse Atlantic Airways, you’ll examine how culture—when understood as a shared set of beliefs and behaviors that shape decision-making—can become a strategic asset.
Beyond the refreshed course content, Disruptive Strategy has been streamlined from six weeks to five, making it an even more flexible option for founders, intrapreneurs, and aspiring leaders who want to uncover customers’ jobs to be done and turn potential threats into strategic wins.
“Disruptive Strategy was exactly what I needed to find myself ready for the next step in my management journey,” said Maurice Stassen, an engineering leader who took the course to turn theory into practice. “I was lucky to have worked with all kinds of disruptions—like wireless communications, platforms, and AI—but in order to make the right decisions, I depend on a clear company strategy. This helped me figure out the gaps in the strategy and, more importantly, its deployment.”
Featured Certificate Course
Disruptive Strategy
Leverage disruptive innovation to develop winning, executive-level strategies and position your business for growth.
Self-Paced | 5 Modules | 5-6 Hours per Module | $1,949
Position Your Business for Growth
Are you and your organization prepared for disruption?
Equip yourself with the practical frameworks and skills you need to anticipate change, organize for innovation, and drive strategy. The next offering of Disruptive Strategy begins on May 27, 2026, at $1,850. For subsequent offerings, the course fee is $1,949.
Disruptive Strategy is part of our Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Strategy Learning Tracks, which enable you to complete three courses within 18 months to earn an advanced Certificate of Specialization. If you’ve already completed one HBS Online course, you’ll receive a 30 percent past participant discount on the additional courses within your Learning Track.