Relationships = Economy
Yet More Evidence of Change
For those who dismiss my missive as just hype, consider online business networking giant LinkedIn preparing for an IPO as early as this fall. The founders of the organization: Reid Hoffman and Konstantin Guericke have stepped down and have made way for heavy hitters from Yahoo, TiVo and Advent Software.
According to a January, 2007 report entitled Serious business: Web 2.0 goes corporate by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by FAST, 406 senior executives were polled and approximately 60% said that they are launching initiatives to have their own customers contribute content that "explains, supports, promotes or enhances" their products within the next 2 years. Additionally, 47% of the companies surveyed were looking at their customers as "co-developers" of products. Lastly, 58% of the companies agreed that this new partnership between corporation and customers blurs the traditional boundaries in ways that will have long-lasting impact.
June, 2007s Next Web Conference in Amsterdam featured a presentation by Deborah Schultz called Stop Yelling and Start Weaving, in which she features a quote by Jerry Michalski:
"Transactions are the by-products of healthy relationships. The global economy is shifting from a mass media, consumer mass-marketing model to one that is far more emergent and decentralized. The involuntary loyalty of "sticky" services is falling victim to the far preferable voluntary loyalty won through responsiveness, quality, excellent service, reliability and trustworthiness."
Relationship Networking is VERY Punk Rock
I think whats important here (and Ive said it before) is that relationship networking is blurring lines and removing boundaries. So what? Its great if youre amongst the billions of frustrated networkers out there looking for corporate responsibility and better connections, but this also has considerably subversive and anti-establishment implications.
For instance, the Cluetrain Manifesto by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls and David Weinberger suggests that corporate paradigms are shifting and that traditional, monolithic organizations will die rapidly in this new economy. Why? People rule and decide the market, not corporations. Sid Vicious and Joe Strummer would be proud, may they rest in peace!
Experts suggest that this could very well be the end of corporations as we know it. Globalization and collaboration through relationship networking is allowing for the formation of virtual business units (VBUs) that are lean and specialized to accomplish a specific initiative, much like the motion picture industry. Utilization of Web 2.0 technologies lowers costs and allows VBUs to function more efficiently with lower overhead, minimal politics and minimal red tape talk about competitive advantages. Furthermore, the nature of sales and marketing changes as the corporations of the future will have you and I selling for them; "I use Brand X Fabric Softener for and love the way my clothes feel on my skin as well as the fresh smell!" Dissolving Boundaries
Traditional organizations have had definite boundaries in which control was asserted through command and control tactics. Without boundaries, C and C becomes much more difficult and eventually, impossible. Is this what motivational speakers mean by "thinking outside the box"? As a recovering engineer I am reminded of the Second Law of Thermodynamics which states that everything moves towards Entropy (disorder). Scary stuff, provided youre a control freak not so much if you enjoy reveling in the chaos of life.
So as we continue to redefine boundaries, lets dare take this one step further. Living in the United States I cant help but look at Corporate Americas all-pervasive influence on our Government. Liberals who criticize our current administration feel that it is run through these same C and C tactics for the simple reason that its the way things have been done for quite some time. How will the governmental landscape change when their main source of revenue (large corporations) changes as well? Current initiatives by the "centrist party" Unity 08 (read more about them in Matthew Bests article this month) are working to utilize relationship networking as a means to stay relevant.
Countries, for that matter, are defined by definite boundaries yet as stated before, relationship networking, globalization and Web 2.0 are blurring these lines. How will countries assert control over their citizens when VBUs are made up of participants from more than one country? In my mind, the only answer is through the development and maintenance of relationships; one person at a time. Moving Forward
While it may be uncomfortable subject matter to discuss, we have come to the point of no return where we cannot simply sweep this under the rug. We know the world can be a better place and most of us want it to be, but as we engage in the "uphill battle" that is the relationship networking industry, we can only carry it through one step at a time.
Amongst the first steps are to pay attention to the voices of the end users who are frustrated with filling in the same personal information on multiple online platforms and spending unproductive time. The Relationship Networking Industry Association (RNIA), a non-profit, neutral third-party organization is doing exactly that by building a Common Body of Knowledge (CBOK) that is divided into fourteen sections:
1. Collaboration
2. Customer-Product Relationships
3. Education
4. Employment
5. Ethics
6. Events
7. Member-based Organizations (MBOs)
8. Metrics
9. Organization as a Person
10. Practices
11. Relationship with Self
12. Research
13. Skills
14. Technology-driven Platforms
Work on the fourteen sections will be developed by individual teams. At an RNIA teleconference on June 28, 2007 the Team Leaders of these fourteen sections agreed to develop regular monthly meetings, a charter and the top five areas of industry improvement in each section.
Through the work that RNIA is undertaking, they will be looking at the industry as a system. If relationship networking is about bringing people together, why must we do so through several networks that cannot network with each other? What are the benefits of volunteering our time to such organizations in which we act as salespeople or moderators? Since relationship networking is the future, how do we prepare future generations for it?
The National Networker fully-supports RNIA. If you feel the same and wish to lead the transformation to a new vibrant, profitable and meaningful relationship economy, join RNIA today. For more information visit www.RNIA.org.
Happy Networking!
http://www.TheNationalNetworker.com
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