http://www.zdnet.com/blog/collaboration/generation-y-do-i-have-to-do-it-like-that/1916
This is a very interesting blog post that could be easily dismissed, but there are two key points that come out if it. The author refers to ex US General Stanley McChrystal ’s new piece in Foreign Policy magazine ‘ It Takes a Network - The new frontline of modern warfare‘ where he discusses the realities of fighting against a shape-shifting, networked enemy whose decentralized choreography is very hard to read.
1. Our armies today are command-and-Control, hierarchical structures where information rolls up from the bottom to the top, decisions are taken at the top, and then they are rolled down to the bottom for execution and feedback. Our armies are based on the assumption that other armies operate in the same manner. But as McChrystal describes it in Afghanistan and Iraq there is not structured army opposing you. Instead, it is a constantly-changing, self-forming coalition with no head and no clear chain of command that you can disrupt.
We are seeing this same transition happen in the business world today. It is happening already and most visibly in everything regarding technology, especially web technology with low entry costs. The competition is not the big competitor down the street, it is the dynamic network of relationships that form through the network and constantly innovate. You can't "skate to where the puck is going to be" as hockey player Wayne Gretzky is famous for saying, because no one knows where it is going to be. Being Microsoft, Google, or Twitter today is scary because you care constantly being attacked by this amorphous competition. Where is MySpace today? Where is AOL?
This will be the future of all companies, even heavy industry, in the future. Companies need to start preparing.
Once again, the future is clear, though it may not be imminent. But businesses need to start preparing now.
This is a very interesting blog post that could be easily dismissed, but there are two key points that come out if it. The author refers to ex US General Stanley McChrystal ’s new piece in Foreign Policy magazine ‘ It Takes a Network - The new frontline of modern warfare‘ where he discusses the realities of fighting against a shape-shifting, networked enemy whose decentralized choreography is very hard to read.
1. Our armies today are command-and-Control, hierarchical structures where information rolls up from the bottom to the top, decisions are taken at the top, and then they are rolled down to the bottom for execution and feedback. Our armies are based on the assumption that other armies operate in the same manner. But as McChrystal describes it in Afghanistan and Iraq there is not structured army opposing you. Instead, it is a constantly-changing, self-forming coalition with no head and no clear chain of command that you can disrupt.
We are seeing this same transition happen in the business world today. It is happening already and most visibly in everything regarding technology, especially web technology with low entry costs. The competition is not the big competitor down the street, it is the dynamic network of relationships that form through the network and constantly innovate. You can't "skate to where the puck is going to be" as hockey player Wayne Gretzky is famous for saying, because no one knows where it is going to be. Being Microsoft, Google, or Twitter today is scary because you care constantly being attacked by this amorphous competition. Where is MySpace today? Where is AOL?
This will be the future of all companies, even heavy industry, in the future. Companies need to start preparing.
2. Information sharing has to happen across the business at a low level, as they saw in the military with intelligence information. Waiting for it to roll up and roll down is no longer effective. tools like Jive are designed to do this, but management has to let it happen, or better still, encourage it to happen.
3. Finally, decisions are taken locally. You can't wait for validation and confirmation from the top. You have to be ready to act now. Upper management sets the framework for taking decisions locally.
0 comments:
Post a Comment