Terry Jones: Innovation from the bottom up is chaotic and smart

Terry Jones, entrepreneur and founder of Travelocity and Kayak, spoke about disruption and innovation at CMU-Q’s last of the Dean’s Lecture Series for the 2016-17 academic year. Jones was in Qatar as a guest of the US Embassy and part of the U.S. Department of State’s speaker series.

Jones discussed the myriad disruptive forces in today’s business world, including connectivity, big data, the cloud and the Internet of Things. While these have been disruptive to the traditional way of doing business, each has provided opportunities for businesses willing to take risks with new business models. Jones noted that Uber is the largest limousine company in the world, but does not own any cars. Facebook is the largest publisher, but develops no content.

He urged companies to develop a culture of cross-departmental collaboration and communication up and down the organizational chart.

“Innovation that happens from the top down is orderly but dumb. Innovation that happens from the bottom up is chaotic and smart,” Jones said.