Disruption often sparks conflict, but does it need to? Imagine being able to transform chaos into collaboration and opportunity.
Interstitialogy offers tools connecting the space between new ideas with existing systems to help entrepreneurs, businesses, and policymakers adapt and thrive. However, new ideas often face resistance, and this new field's unconventional approach can struggle for attention without building an appropriate hook. By building on existing incentives, Interstitialogy can create access points to help transform disruption into opportunities for all.
Quid Pro Quo: A Flawed Incentive Reaction
Most established groups, governments or corporations, have rigid official processes. However, they may often make unofficial exceptions or selective favoring from ad-hoc incentive driven actions such as quid pro quo. Someone outside of the group offers something of value in exchange of the established group modifying their regular process for their exclusive use.
Often quid pro quo actions come at the cost of both integrity (rule breaking) and versatility (over-regulation) in favor of promoting a general sense of control unsustainable in an environment of increasing change. Established groups need a method to adapt, making exceptions that boost reliability and flexibility through accommodation instead of capitulation.
The incentives perpetuating quid pro quo activity will never go away, and they do not need to. Recognizing the persistence of the incentive driver is an opportunity to transform the resulting activity into something more productive. Since that incentive is always there and agnostic to every established group, it is a prime candidate for introducing 'new' opportunities to otherwise rigid established groups.
Along with being an opening to introduce new things, focusing on elevating the incentive response above quid pro quo adds additional incentive of improving ethics, reliability, and more. This leads to a potential to transform quid pro quo behavior to something more quo pro quo.
Quo Pro Quo: A Collaborative Solution
Disruptors can seize this chance to create win-win solutions as direct opportunities for others. Advancing quid pro quo incentives into a more mutually beneficial quo pro quo approach can help disruptors ensure scalability and stability for established groups and themselves. Unlike quid pro quo's transactional trades (e.g. offering value for exceptions), quo pro quo fosters mutual growth and adaptability that can be maintained transparently and as long as needed.
How Quo Pro Quo Works
Let us use an analogy with a space station to give illustration to the functional aspects of Quo Pro Quo.
Instead of a disruptor coming in fast toward a space station like a meteor with hope it can launch regardless of what's in its path, it will adjust its speed to match momentum and align itself to a proper docking port. The disruptor's union with the space station will impact the station's mass and thus orbital requirements, but the disruptor can make its own orbital adjustments while docked to compensate. Both can appreciate benefits from their combined mass as they increase their stability through their mutual travels. If/when they reach a point where the disruptor is able to move on, it can leave the established group to continue its journey without negative effect.
Another breakdown of the steps involved makes use of interstitial space to identify and communicate gainful connection opportunities.
Identify impact and flexibility areas (circles)
- Pinpoint where your disruption affects the established group
- Look for areas where they've been flexible in the past (e.g. past quid pro quo activity)Find potential intersection points (rings)
- Use Interstitialogy tools to align shared goals (details are coming soon for such tools like PINE (a next-gen SWOT analysis) and the Risk/Reward Rubicon (for balancing innovation risks))
- Ex. A tech startup might find a corporation open to adopting AI toolsMap the range of flexibility areas (waves)
- Assess flexibility for both parties to transparently negotiate compromise
- Ex. A startup offers multiple scalable options, a corporate provides data access to focus and customize those options
As tools from Interstitialogy can help navigate the peripheral space, they can also help identify and communicate points of potential connection. Disruptors can thus engage directly with established groups to meaningfully engage where they are most flexible to offer new opportunities. As established groups could allow for change via quid pro quo before, the disruptor can help make better use of that mechanism ethically with a quo pro quo process.
While misalignment is always a risk, Interstitialogy tools help maximize alignment potential and ensure both parties' goals are communicated and understood from the start. The quo pro quo approach further priorities transparency and mutual benefit, ensuring sustainable partnerships.
Temporary or long term, a beneficial symbiosis can be offered as quo pro quo instead of the limited transactional approach of quid pro quo. Further, the process of building toward this strategy helps more generally align disruptors against market entry barriers. Businesses can remain competitive and policymakers can foster innovation in an increasingly disruptive world.
Stay tuned for more independent research articles on Interstitialogy tools like the Risk/Reward Rubicon, with free articles and discussion on X and exclusive content on our subscriber sites.
Share your thoughts here. How can disruptors and established groups better collaborate in your industry? How can you communicate something genuinely 'new' in a productive manner?