---
title: "Josh Linkner: Have Courage to Cannabalize"
id: "27827"
type: "post"
slug: "josh-linkner-have-courage-to-cannabalize"
published_at: "2015-04-01T07:10:56+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-03-16T13:45:14+00:00"
url: "https://associationsnow.com/2015/04/01/josh-linkner-have-courage-to-cannabalize/"
markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2015/04/01/josh-linkner-have-courage-to-cannabalize.md"
excerpt: "The Road to Reinvention author Josh Linkner says it’s your job to make what you’re doing today obsolete."
taxonomy_category:
  - "Executive Leadership"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "app risks"
  - "AssociationsNow"
  - "Business"
  - "C-suite"
  - "Innovation"
  - "Leadership"
taxonomy_content_format:
  - "Article"
taxonomy_role:
  - "C-Level"
  - "Executive Team"
  - "For-Profit CEO / President / Owner / Partner"
  - "VP"
taxonomy_persona:
  - "Executive Leadership"
---

[Home](https://associationsnow.com/)
 » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/)
 » Josh Linkner: Have Courage to Cannabalize

## *The Road to Reinvention* author Josh Linkner says it’s your job to make what you’re doing today obsolete.

Even experienced CEOs can fail miserably at organizational reinvention, and venture capitalist and bestselling author Josh Linkner knows why.

“More often than not, you have a confidence issue more than a competence issue with the leader,” he says. “If organizations can encourage courage among their leaders, and they’re willing to take responsible risk, they can break down the competence part of reinvention into systematized, bite-sized chunks. The bigger problem is that people are afraid to change, to take risks, to try something new.”

They especially fear anything that may kill Golden Goose-type products or services. That’s where the courage to cannibalize comes in.

Linkner points to Polaroid Corporation, a half-century leader in instant photography that’s now bankrupt. “People told senior leaders, ‘We’ve got to change. We’ve got to go digital. We’ve got to adapt,’ but they were consistently met with the response, ‘We don’t want to cannibalize our core business,’” says Linkner. “It’s a huge trap, because it implies you can prevent external innovation. That didn’t work for Polaroid, and it won’t work for you, either.”

He advises instead to accept that someday an organization will emerge to try to put you out of business, so it might as well be you.

“If you think of yourself as the cannibal—that your job is to proactively make what you’re doing today obsolete—then sustainable leadership occurs,” Linkner says.

Chief among cannibals are technology companies, which assume every product renders prior versions irrelevant. “Such planned obsolescence forces people not to get too comfortable with the current state and to always push boundaries for what can be,” he says. “Unfortunately, this [leadership mindset] doesn’t happen in many places.”

(Adrian Burke/Getty Images)

[Kristin Clarke, CAE](https://associationsnow.com/author/kristin-clarke-cae/)

Kristin Clarke, CAE, is president of Clarke Association Content and is the books columnist for Associations Now.

[More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/kristin-clarke-cae/)

Tags: [#app risks](https://associationsnow.com/tag/app-risks/)
 [#Business](https://associationsnow.com/tag/business/)
 [#C-suite](https://associationsnow.com/tag/c-suite/)
 [#Innovation](https://associationsnow.com/tag/innovation/)
 [#Leadership](https://associationsnow.com/tag/leadership/)

**Stay Informed**

[Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/)
, *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day.

## You Might Like

- [ArticleWhen a Fad Becomes the Future: How Association Leaders Can Tell the DifferenceMay 5, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/05/05/when-a-fad-becomes-the-future-how-association-leaders-can-tell-the-difference/)
- [VideoSmarter Board Management for Associations: An OnBoard ShowcaseJuly 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/07/24/smarter-board-management-for-associations-an-onboard-showcase/)
- [VideoAmerican Geophysical Union: Standing Up for Science: AGU’s Year of Action for Scientists and SocietySeptember 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/24/american-geophysical-union-standing-up-for-science-agus-year-of-action-for-scientists-and-society/)
- [ArticleLeading Through Change: The CFO’s Role in Building Financial ConfidenceAugust 26, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/08/26/leading-through-change-the-cfos-role-in-building-financial-confidence/)

## Comments

**Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/)

[Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2015%2F04%2F01%2Fjosh-linkner-have-courage-to-cannabalize%2F%23comments)
 to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/)
!