April 28, 2008
We Are What We Share
Posted by Doug Meacham under Uncategorized | Tags: Age of Conversation, AOC, Collaboration, media, social |
Over the weekend, I came across a post from fellow Age of Conversation 2 contributer Chris Kieff which contained a wonderful video from Charles Leadbeater, a well known leader in the innovation and creativity space. As Chris points out, the video does a great job explaining one of the key concepts behind The Age of Conversation. It also highlights the power of applying social collaborative concepts to innovation and points out how companies organized hierarchically are unable to adapt to this new way of doing things.
So what are your key takeaways for you from this video? What would be your elevator pitch if you were trying to share the key concepts with an executive at a traditionally organized company?
April 28, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Doug,
Thanks for the link and the plug. I would dearly like to know what the elevator pitch for this video sounds like. I can’t boil it down to something that simple. It’s too complex and has too many deeply moving ideas for me.
Thanks,
Chris
April 28, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Chris, That’s why I asked the question. Those of us in the echo chamber can go on and on about this stuff when talking with each other, but try explaining something as simple as Twitter to your typical executive. (BTW, Greg Verdino has a great post on this topic on his blog today.)
This video makes a great case and it would be interesting to share with decision makers, but how do you get the opening in the first place? If you are an advocate for the changes the video describes, you need to be able to boil down all the concepts to something that can be easily shared and which resonates with business leaders.
April 29, 2008 at 4:20 am
Sharing leads to greater acceptance, participation, and innovation because the concern for self and others can be equally applied.
That’s my random quick attempt.
April 30, 2008 at 6:04 pm
This video is very cool, especially for the “echo chamber” as you call it, Doug. For those on the outside, however, I don’t think there is a strong enough call to action here. Traditionally-aligned companies probably won’t get this, because (as with customers), we need to be able to explain this new way of thinking in their language.
But I love it!
April 30, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Becky, Exactly! The challenge is just that: Finding a way to explain the shift and its implications in terms that people who are not only unaware of it, but who’s lifetime of experience has been with historically successful business models built on frameworks which may be diametrically opposed to the emerging model.