Business Will Change

How collective intelligence will change the way we do business

I wrote this book for every business person struggling to make sense of the changes that are sweeping through our world today.  Business is changing.  An unstoppable transformation is underway. Everything about how we work -- how products are developed, marketed, sold, and supported -- will change. How companies are financed, organized and managed will change. You can choose to ignore these changes or you can embrace them. I believe that the success of your company and how you personally will thrive depends entirely upon understanding and adapting to these changes.

Here is a key idea for you to embrace: adaptability. The biggest difference I see between people and organizations that are doing well and those that are struggling is in their willingness to adapt. In my work with companies I often focus on this aspect and challenge people to think -- why do we do things a certain way? Why can't it be done another way? Often they already know a better way to do their work, but they don't feel empowered (or emboldened) to change.

Collectively and individually we all need to start asking, "is this working? Or should we change? And if we change, how will we do this differently?"  And then we need to take action! Our success as individuals and as organization depend upon the way in which we adapt and continue adapting to our environment.

As with previous periods of change in human society, this one is being driven by the power of human invention. In this case the inventions moving our society are digital computing and communication networks and a set of facilitating applications which I refer to in this book as social technologies -- a combination of software applications, web sites, and mobile applications that are fostering the global development of cooperative communications.

Even before technology played a role, sociologists had developed an understanding of the resulting collective intelligence which emerges from certain kinds of organized group communications. But the cheap (in some cases virtually free) computing and communications which has become available over the past decade has brought organizational change, knowledge creation, decision making, and idea development to anyone with a computer or phone connected to the Internet.

Collective intelligence has now been thoroughly democratized and anyone can tap into its power. Organizations and individuals can really begin doing things differently as a result.

The possibility of doing something new has taken a long time to reach us, though not as long as it took for industrial technologies to transform our society. It has been 60 years since the invention of the digital computer and we are just now beginning to understand how work will be changed by that invention. For the first few decades the computer was an aid to tabulation and arithmetic operations, but we hardly understood how those simple capabilities would come to affect every aspect of how goods are produced or services provided.

In 1980 futurist Alvin Toffler published "The Third Wave" seeking to understand and explain this strange new phenomena -- how a small company called Microsoft was doing something novel in the history of business. With only the intellectual capabilities of its employees, Microsoft was creating products of enormous value and distributing them with a minimal physical medium.  In order to explain what he saw happening, Toffler developed an idea about three phases of human history and announced that we had entered the third, the information age.

In agrarian societies, Toffler observed, the organized production of goods depended upon control of the land on which crops were grown or livestock grazed. Starting in the 18th century the industrial revolution brought about a radical shift in the components of production. The forces unleashed by the steam engine destroyed the agrarian world, eliminated entire classes of work, denigrated the role of professional craftspeople, and doomed the aristocracy. It also brought about the greatest period of innovation, increase in longevity and broad spread of prosperity in history.

The information age will bring sweeping changes as well.  A powerful idea has been given form in social technologies and we will see institutions, professions, and entire social, economic, and political systems swept aside. But while parts of the world we know are being destroyed, many new and wonderful things will also emerge. Just as the steam engine changed how we live and work, so too will new collaborative online communities create new jobs, new ways of working, and new ideas about what is possible. This book is about understanding why and how these change are happening and what you should be doing to benefit from these changes. 

The first two chapters will provide some background for understanding how change happens and what this shift is all about. Starting with chapter three I provide some concrete ideas about what you should be doing in your own life and career to embrace the shift that is underway. Finally in the later chapters I explore the impact on various specific parts of business -- product development, marketing, sales, etc.

I am also regularly asked for a reading list of other resources, so in the appendix I have listed books, articles, blogs, and other resources for learning more about social technologies and how they will change business. For an ever updating conversation on these topics, please join me on my blog dedicated to this book:  http://www.businesswillchange.com

How collective intelligence will change the way we do business

I wrote this book for every business person struggling to make sense of the changes that are sweeping through our world today.  Business is changing.  An unstoppable transformation is underway. Everything about how we work -- how products are developed, marketed, sold, and supported -- will change. How companies are financed, organized and managed will change. You can choose to ignore these changes or you can embrace them. I believe that the success of your company and how you personally will thrive depends entirely upon understanding and adapting to these changes.

Adaptability is becoming ever more important. The biggest difference I see between people and organizations that are doing well and those that are struggling is in how adaptable they are able to be. In my work with organizations I often focus on this aspect and challenge people to think -- why do we do things a certain way? Why can't it be done another way? Often they already know a better way to do their work, but they aren't empowered (or emboldened) to change.

Collectively and individually we all need to start asking, "is this working? Or should we change? And if we change, how will we do this differently?"  And then we need to make the change. Our success as individuals and as organization depend upon the way in which we change.

As with previous eras of change in human society, this one is being driven by the power of human invention. In this case the inventions is the rapidly evolving digital computing and communication networks and a set of facilitating applications which I refer to in this book as social technologies -- a combination of software applications, web sites, and mobile applications that are fostering the global development of cooperative communications.

Even before technology played a role, sociologists had developed an understanding of the resulting collective intelligence which emerges from certain kinds of organized group communications. But the cheap (in some cases virtually free) computing and communications which has become available over the past decade has brought organizational change, knowledge creation, decision making, and idea development to anyone with a computer or phone connected to the Internet.

Collective intelligence has now been thoroughly democratized and anyone can tap into its power. Organizations and individuals can really begin doing things differently as a result.

The possibility of doing something new has taken a long time to reach us, though not as long as it took for industrial technologies to transform our society. It has been 60 years since the invention of the digital computer and we are just now beginning to understand how work will be changed by that invention. For the first few decades the computer was an aid to tabulation and arithmetic operations, but we hardly understood how those simple capabilities would come to change every aspect of how goods are produced or services provided.

In 1980 futurist Alvin Toffler published "The Third Wave" seeking to understand and explain this strange new phenomena -- how a small company called Microsoft was doing something novel in the history of business. With only the intellectual capabilities of its employees, Microsoft was creating products of enormous value and distributing them with a minimal physical medium.  In order to explain what he saw happening, Toffler developed an idea about three phases of human history and announced that we had entered the third, the information age.

In agrarian societies, Toffler observed, the organized production of goods depended upon control of the land on which crops were grown or livestock grazed. Starting in the 18th century the industrial revolution brought about a radical change in the components of production. The forces unleashed by the steam engine destroyed the agrarian world, eliminated entire classes of work, denigrated the role of professional craftspeople, and doomed the aristocracy. It also brought about the greatest period of innovation, increase in longevity and broad spread of prosperity in history.

The information age will bring sweeping changes as well.  A powerful idea has been given form in social technologies and we will see institutions, professions, and entire social, economic, and political systems swept aside. But while parts of the world we know are being destroyed, many new and wonderful things will also emerge. Just as the steam engine changed how we live and work, so too will new collaborative online communities create new jobs, new ways of working, and new ideas about what is possible. This book is about understanding why and how these change are happening and what you should be doing to benefit from these changes.

How collective intelligence will change the way we do business

I wrote this book for every business person struggling to make sense of the changes that are sweeping through our world today.  Business is changing.  An unstoppable transformation is underway. Everything about how we work -- how products are developed, marketed, sold, and supported -- will change. How companies are financed, organized and managed will change. You can choose to ignore these changes or you can embrace them. I believe that the success of your company and how you personally will thrive depends entirely upon understanding and adapting to these changes.

Driving this change is the rapid evolution of digital computing and communication networks and a set of facilitating applications which I refer to in this book as social technologies -- a combination of software applications, web sites, and mobile applications that are fostering the global development of cooperative communications.

Even before technology played a role, sociologists had developed an understanding of the resulting collective intelligence which emerges from certain kinds of organized group communications. But the cheap (in some cases virtually free) computing and communications which has become available over the past decade has brought organizational change, knowledge creation, decision making, and idea development to anyone with a computer or phone connected to the Internet. Collective intelligence has now been thoroughly democratized and anyone can tap into its power.

It has taken 60 years since the invention of the digital computer for us to begin to understand the magnitude of the transformation now taking place. For the first few decades the computer was an aid to tabulation and arithmetic operations, but we hardly understood how those simple capabilities would come to change every aspect of how we work to produce goods and provide services.

In 1980 futurist Alvin Toffler published "The Third Wave" seeking to understand and explain this strange new phenomena -- how a small company called Microsoft was doing something novel in the history of business. With only the intellectual capabilities of its employees, Microsoft was creating products of enormous value and distributing them with a minimal physical medium.  In order to explain what he saw happening, Toffler developed an idea about three phases of human history and announced that we had entered the third, the information age.

In agrarian societies, Toffler observed, the organized production of goods depended upon control of the land on which crops were grown or livestock grazed. Starting in the 18th century the industrial revolution brought about a radical change in the components of production. The forces unleashed by the steam engine destroyed the agrarian world, eliminated entire classes of work, denigrated the role of professional craftspeople, and doomed the aristocracy. It also brought about the greatest period of innovation, increase in longevity and broad spread of prosperity in history.

The information age will bring sweeping changes as well.  A powerful idea has been given form in social technologies and we will see institutions, professions, and entire social, economic, and political systems swept aside. But while parts of the world we know are being destroyed, many new and wonderful things will also emerge. Just as the steam engine changed how we live and work, so too will new collaborative online communities create new jobs, new ways of working, and new ideas about what is possible. This book is about understanding why and how these change are happening and what you should be doing to benefit from these changes.

How collective intelligence will change the way we do business

I wrote this book for every business person struggling to make sense of the changes that are sweeping through our world today.  Business is changing.  An unstoppable transformation is underway. Everything about how we work -- how products are developed, marketed, sold, and supported -- will change. How companies are financed, organized and managed will change. You can chose to ignore these changes or you can embrace them. I believe that the success of your company and how you personally will thrive depends entirely upon understanding and adapting to these changes.

It has taken 60 years since the invention of the digital computer for us to begin to understand the magnitude of the transformation now taking place. For the first few decades the computer was an aid to tabulation and arithmetic operations, but we hardly understood how those simple capabilities would come to change every aspect of how we work to produce goods and provide services.

In 1980 futurist Alvin Toffler published "The Third Wave" seeking to understand and explain this strange new phenomena -- how this small company called Microsoft was doing something novel in the history of business. With only the intellectual capabilities of its employees, Microsoft was creating products of enormous value and distributing them with a minimal physical medium.  In order to explain what he saw happening, Toffler developed an idea about three phases of human history and announced that we had entered the third.

In agrarian societies, Toffler observed, the organized production of goods depended upon control of the land on which crops were grown or livestock grazed. Starting in the 18th century the industrial revolution brought about a radical change in the components of production. The forces unleashed by the steam engine destroyed the agrarian world, eliminated entire classes of work, denigrated the role of professional craftspeople, and doomed the aristocracy. It also brought about the greatest period of innovation, increases in longevity and broad spread prosperity in history.

The information age will bring sweeping changes as well.  A powerful idea has been given form in social technologies and we will see institutions, professions, and entire social, economic, and political systems swept aside. But while parts of the world we know are being destroyed, many new and wonderful things will also emerge. Just as the steam engine changed how we live and work, so too will new collaborative online communities create new jobs, new ways of working, and new ideas about what is possible. This book is about understanding why and how these change are happening and what you should be doing to benefit from these changes.