The Web 2.0 summit just wrapped up in SFCA this past week. There are some noteworthy observations and content on their web site and in particular Mary Meeker's annual overview of Internet trends . Take an moment to review her indepth presentaiton below. A huge surge in mobile access is about to, yet again, revolutionize businesses and the adoption of new technologies using cloud infrastructure and location centric applications will become another key influencer of shareholder value and produce and service niche differentiation. Among the conferences many revleaing presenters Mary put forth a revealing observations that platforms which combine social networking with mobility will drive "unprecedented change in communications + commerce." As Richard MacManus points out, that statement seems a little hyperbolic, but we have undeniably seen an uptick in usage this year of companies like Foursquare, Loopt and Brightkite. Later in the presentation, Meeker predicted that Facebook will be a major player in this market in the near future. Hold onto your hats.
C.K. Prahalad, author of The New Age of Innovation, Driving Co-Created Value Through Global Networks, among other books, makes a very important observation in a recent interview. He says, " the competitive landscape is morphing...creating a new way of thinking. Current innovation literature is based largely on the legacy of the industrial age." In other words many leaders have not seen the opportunity of new innovation because they continue to define opportunity via vanished industrial paradigms. C.K. is right. In my experience most leadership creates the barriers to progress because they are too rooted in the past and therefore leaders can't see or understand the foundations of the future. The good news is that CK and his book addresses this and other issues to lay a foundation for how organization can change to focus on new solutions that indeed create value aligned with the modality of the new world.
His "one consumer at a time" by delivering personalized experience or as he terms it "N=1"; and his "R=G" concept, wherein an orchestration of resources from a wide variety of people and organizations are used to deliver value, are key concepts to adopt for creating value in our new world.
CK notes two shifts necessary to grasp the innovation oportunity. The first is the way we look at the world. Leadership must accept it is going to change. You have to have a point of view about the future when evaluating the present. You cannot anchor yourself in the past. The second needed shift is that leaders must come to terms with the dominant logic they have relied upon in order to rid themselves of past logic to embrace the new.
Watch CK's Businessweek interviews below. These are insightful and helpful in understanding more about how businesses can adopt N=1 and R=G concepts to progress rapidly and effectively through innovation.
Daniel Boorstin, author and historian, was right when he observed that, "the greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance: its the illusion of knowledge." Its true; to realize the potential this exciting time of change offers requires letting go of certain past assumptions. Disengaging from old thinking enables a consideration and potential adoption of innovations impossible before but central to driving new opportunities. When evaluating every industry today, the primary barriers to moving ahead toward a positive future have much more to do with interests vested in the past than the potential the future offers. Nowhere is this more accurate when considering the struggling music industry of today.
Enter Spotify. Founded in 2006 by Daniel Ek, former CTO of Stardoll, and Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of TradeDoubler, in Stockholm. The company is fast catching up with Twitter as the most talked-about internet site and has been called a “21st-century jukebox”. A library of millions of songs, both pop and classical, can be accessed by users through their computer. Tracks are not downloaded, but merely played once. The effect is similar to listening to the radio - but you choose all the songs. Spotify is unique in that it is both free and legal. Experts think it represents a new model for people to buy music and watch television and films in the future - as reflected in the brief advertisement below.
More interesting than the innovative business model itself is the founder's recognition of where the barriers to success lie. Ek explained the notion of overnight success as "very misleading and actually rather harmful to any hope for long term and sustainable growth in this industry" during a recent interview. Despite this, he called out the music industry for doing just that and expecting to see business models proven "within months of inception." "That's just not how it works", he says, reminding us how iTunes was not initially the powerhouse it is today. Apple missed its iTunes revenue targets by 30% and most label executives doubted its staying power at the time. While Ek realizes that comparing iTunes to Spotify is wrong given the very different business models for each company, it does prove the overall point: success in this industry or any industry takes a long time. More importantly, the long time is more a result of the industries lack of vision and acknowledgement of a solution - a clear demonstration of "the illusion of knowledge" blocking discovery.
If it was up to Spotify, the music industry would be embracing the future instead of fighting against it. Ek opines that for the industry to find success, it must recognize the new business model as "a mix between ad-supported music, downloads, subscriptions, merchandising and ticketing where the user comes first and where the key to monetization comes from portability and packaging access rights." If willing to adapt, the industry could then have the potential to grow stronger than it ever was.
Its not just the music industry that is in desperate need for new thinking in leadership to reach its potential. See his recent interview video below to learn more about Ek and his views here.
Most established organization's have everything they need to take advantage of high-growth opportunities, with one exception: the right disciplines. Below are fundmanental concepts required to achieve success during this time of the convergence of the three mega dynamics of the revolution: globalism, technology & culture. See Rita Mcgrath's lecture below on these important topics and consider how you can bring these disciplines to your organization and reap the opportunities the revolution is presenting to us all.
Topic
Key Message
Discovery Driven Planning
Stop using the same planning techniques for new businesses that you use for existing ones; instead, plan to learn
MarketBusting
Identify huge growth opportunities by using five key lenses with discipline
Entrepreneurial Leadership
Understand the five key practices that create an entrepreneurial mindset and culture in your company
Capturing the most value from venturing
Get beyond go/no go thinking when evaluating your ventures to maximize their benefit to your company
Designing a portfolio for growth
Balance long-term and short-term investment horizons while simultaneously integrating strategy, projects, budgeting and people development
The middle managers’ role in growth programs
USe middle managers as the secret weapon in a drive to create growth.
Designing the launch
What should you take into account when you are launching your new business?
Dynamic Strategy
For years, we’ve been told that sustainable competitive advantage is the best strategic outcome. Rita shows you that temporary advantages can be just as powerful.
In his book, "The Chaos Scenario", Bob Garfield, writer for Advertising Age magazine and co-host of NPR’s On the Media program, forecasts the disintegration of mass media and advertising structures that have dominated commerce for hundreds of years. Garfield astutely warns that all formerly top-down institutions cannot dictate to consumers with advertising through mass media as before, but must retool, restructure and reengineer their business models enbracing new digital tools and forging better relationships with customers—no longer seeing people as eyeballs or votes, but as REAL stakeholders in their enterprise.
Amid the ruins of mass media, the choice for business is stark: really listen and respond or perish. This is evident in most industries today as they try to figure out rapical change brought on by mega trend convergences. As Garfield states in this illumantive video below, "Its a Revolution". Watch it !
The Web 2.0 summit just wrapped up in SFCA this past week. There are some noteworthy observations and content on their web site and in particular Mary Meeker's annual overview of Internet trends . Take an moment to review her indepth presentaiton below. A huge surge in mobile access is about to, yet again, revolutionize businesses and the adoption of new technologies using cloud infrastructure and location centric applications will become another key influencer of shareholder value and produce and service niche differentiation. Among the conferences many revleaing presenters Mary put forth a revealing observations that platforms which combine social networking with mobility will drive "unprecedented change in communications + commerce." As Richard MacManus points out, that statement seems a little hyperbolic, but we have undeniably seen an uptick in usage this year of companies like Foursquare, Loopt and Brightkite. Later in the presentation, Meeker predicted that Facebook will be a major player in this market in the near future.
