1453, an army approaches Constantinople. If you’re inside the walls of Constantinople, you probably feel OK, because after all, those walls had stood for more than 1,000 years. There’s a literal moat that goes around the city. Once you get past the moat, you get to two sets of walls, each 18 feet thick. Those walls were impenetrable before. Saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal, three ingredients that, when combined in the right way, created gunpowder, first identified in about 142.

1,300 years later, a mysterious figure named Orban appears. He goes to the people inside the walls, the Byzantine Empire, and says, I can sell you something that will protect your city. The Byzantine Empire passes. Orban goes to the Ottoman Empire that is seeking to sack the city and makes the same proposition. They say yes. Imagine how it felt. Walls that had stood for 1,000 years faced the onslaught of a half-ton cannonball flung over the distance of a mile. The walls shattered. The city fell in 47 days.

Disruption changes everything. The question you have to ask in modern times is: what is the moat that we have, that we built yesterday, that might protect us today, but will be powerless against the disruptions in the future?

Why is it that market leaders pass on disruptive innovations? Well, when you first see a disruptive innovation, it looks really different. It looks unfamiliar, and therefore, it’s pretty easy to discount it. If you’re inside walls that had stood for 1,000 years and you see this unproven cannon present in front of you, you don’t fully understand it. You don’t fully see its use. You’re used to horses. You’re used to cavalry. You’re used to arrows. Those are things that had worked for a very long period of time. It’s only once you see the full demonstration of the power of the disruption that you really, truly get it.

Why historically have disruptive innovations tended to start with upstarts? Well, Bob Dylan put it pretty well: ‘When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.’ A market leader sees downside. They see risks. They see threats.Somebody who is an upstart sees nothing but gain and possibility. So therefore, it’s pretty natural that an upstart will go and gravitate to following a new disruptive approach. And the research shows that’s a smart thing to do.

If you try to take on the incumbent in a battle that they are used to playing and you try to do it better, they’re going to beat you most of the time. Clay Christensen called that a sustaining innovation battle. If you try to take them on with a very different form of battle, you’ve got a much greater chance of winning. So, it’s natural that if you don’t go and counteract these forces, the upstart’s going to see it and jump all over it. The incumbent is going to hesitate and pause.

When you look at a new innovation, it always feels like there’s risk involved. So, you have to make a decision. Am I going to put a dollar, euro, rupee – whatever – into this innovation or that innovation? One of the big challenges a market leader has is a comparison. Should I spend that unit of resource making today better, or should I spend it making tomorrow different?

If you’re a company that’s got nothing, you only think about what do I do that’s going to have the maximum impact. You look for the most exciting things, the things with the most potential. Your resources naturally allocate towards the disruption. This is the rational part of the innovator’s dilemma. Left unchecked, the resource allocation process inside an organization will direct everything to the known … … to the proven, to the things that appear to be safe, not recognizing that you’re actually taking a risk by not taking a risk, by leaving yourself susceptible to somebody who comes at you with a disruptive innovation.
(End)

• To approach something (verb): to move near to something.
• A moat (noun): a long, wide hole that is filled with water and surrounds a castle, city, etc.
• Impenetrable (adjective): impossible to enter or go through.
• Gunpowder (noun): an explosive mixture that is used to make bombs, fireworks, etc.
• A figure (noun): a person, especially someone important.
• An empire (noun): a group of countries ruled by a single person, government, or country.
• To pass (verb): to say no to an opportunity.
• To sack a place (verb): to attack a building or place, causing destruction and stealing things.
• A proposition (noun): an offer or suggestion.
• An onslaught (noun): a very powerful attack.
• A cannonball (noun): a heavy metal or stone ball shot from a cannon.
• To fling something (verb): to throw or shoot something with a lot of power.
• To shatter (verb): to break suddenly into very small pieces.
• To fall (verb): to be beaten or defeated.
• Disruption (noun): the action of preventing something from continuing as normal.
• A market leader (noun): the company that sells most of a product or service in a market.
• An innovation (noun): a new idea or method.
• Unfamiliar (adjective): not known to you.
• To discount something (verb): to decide that something is not worth your attention.
• Unproven (adjective): not yet having been shown good enough or able to do something.
• Cavalry (noun): the group of soldiers in the past who fought on horses.
• A demonstration (noun): the act of showing someone how to do something or how it works.
• Truly (adverb): sincerely, without a doubt.
• An upstart (noun): a new competitor, often who has suddenly got some power.
• A downside (noun): a disadvantage of a situation or thing.
• A threat (noun): the possibility that something unwanted or unpleasant will happen.
• Gain (noun): an occasion when you get something useful or positive.
• To gravitate to something (phrasal verb): to be attracted to something.
• An approach (noun): a way of doing or thinking about something.
• To take on someone (phrasal verb): to compete against or fight someone.
• An incumbent (noun): the person or organisation that is already in the dominant position.
• To counteract something (verb): to do something that reduces the effect of something else.
• To jump all over something (idiom): to enthusiastically accept or maximise an opportunity.
• To hesitate (verb): to pause before you say or do something.
• A comparison (noun): the act of looking at the difference between two or more things.
• A resource (noun): a useful or valuable possession or quality that an organisation has to use.
• An impact (noun): a powerful effect that something has on a situation or person.
• Potential (noun): something or someone’s ability to develop or succeed.
• To allocate something (verb): to give an amount of something for a particular use.
• Rational (adjective): based on clear thought and reason.
• A dilemma (noun): a situation in which a difficult choice between two things has to be made.
• Unchecked (adjective): something continuing/ increasing without limits or efforts to stop it.
• Susceptible (adjective): easily influenced, harmed or damaged by something.
• To come at someone (phrasal verb): to move quickly toward someone to attack them.

In this text, there are different examples of how be used to is used. Used to + infinitive and be used to look very similar but they are used in very different ways.

Used to + infinitive

Used to + infinitive describes a past habit, action, or situation that no longer happens or is no longer true. Used to is followed by the infinitive form of a verb:

‘He used to play the piano, but now he prefers the guitar.’

‘I didn’t use to like coffee, but now I drink it every morning.’

‘Did they use to live in the countryside before moving to the city?’

Be used to + -ing/ noun

Be used to means being familiar with or accustomed to something, that something is considered ‘normal’. Be used to can be followed by the verb-ING form, a noun, or pronoun, and can refer to the past, present, or future:

‘She’s used to early mornings because of her job as a baker.’

‘I wasn’t used to eating spicy food at first, but now I enjoy it.’

‘She’ll be used to working under pressure after a few weeks.’

Get used to + -ing/ noun

Get used to describes the process of becoming familiar with something over time, the process of something becoming ‘normal’. Get used to can be followed by the verb-ING form, a noun, or pronoun, and can refer to the past, present, or future:

‘I’m finding it hard to drive on the left side of the road, but I’ll get used to it eventually.’

‘He couldn’t get used to the cold winters in Canada.’

‘She’s getting used to using her new phone, but it still feels a bit confusing.’

Examples in the text:

• You’re used to horses: You’re (be) + used to + horses (noun): be used to is used here to describe something that is normal for a group of people, describing what is familiar.
• You’re used to cavalry: You’re (be) + used to + cavalry (noun): be used to is used here to describe something that is normal for a group of people, describing what is familiar.
• You’re used to arrows: You’re (be) + used to + arrows (noun): be used to is used here to describe something that is normal for a group of people, describing what is familiar.
• If you try to take on the incumbent in a battle that they are used to playing: they are (be) + used to + playing (verb-ING): be used to is used here to describe something that an organisation is accustomed to, and the need for competitors to disrupt normality.

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar/different-uses-of-used-to

https://www.englishpodcastscollected.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Harvard-Business-Review-Walls-and-moats-wont-save-you.-Innovation-will.pdf

https://www.englishpodcastscollected.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Harvard-Business-Review-Walls-and-moats-wont-save-you.-Innovation-will.docx