Disruptor and Chesterton’s Fence

The 21st century has created a whole range of new types of professionals that we have never had before — or if not quite new, at least newly repackaged. The world has always had influential people, for instance, but only now do we have “Influencer”. Similarly, the corporate world has certainly known its fair share of disruption, yet it is only in the last couple of decades that the “Disruptor” has become a recognisable figure in the way we talk about big business.

In an earlier era, the Disruptor would have been called an Innovator. Yet while an Innovator creates something new, the Disruptor is defined as much by what they destroy as by what they create. The Disruptor forces change; the clean-up is somebody else’s problem. It’s an attitude best summed up as “Move fast and break things.”

Back in 1929, G. K. Chesterton identified the core problem with moving fast and breaking things through a thought experiment. Imagine there is a fence along a road. Suppose it’s been there a long time, and was put there for some purpose. But that purpose is lost over time. To us, now, the fence seems to be nothing but an impediment. Why not remove it?

When faced with such a fence, Chesterton thinks the fact that we can’t see the point of the fence is why we should not tear it down. Some fences keep foxes out of henhouses, for instance. If you think you can do without the fence because you’ve never seen a fox, consider if the existence of the fence is precisely why you’ve never seen one.

Importantly, Chesterton is not saying that things can never be reformed. His is a preventive principle rather than an outright prohibition. We could rephrase it like this: understand the wisdom in past decisions before you reject them. If we’re too impetuous, we can end up tearing out things we don’t yet realise we rely upon. But uncritical devotion to the “way things are done” can also deny us the possibility of better days.

What is required, then, is not the fearlessness of the Disruptor, but the humility (谦卑) to stop and ask questions and to know that our own perspective is neither unique nor comprehensive. Disruption can be a force for good. It can also just leave a big mess. We need the ability to work out which messes are worth avoiding — because however impressively fast you move, some things can’t be easily unbroken.