Business Leadership in a Connected World

I attended CPA Australia’s Business Outlook 2010 last Thursday there was an excellent series of presentations addressing the regions business outlook and I must say 2010 and the next few years are looking very good.

One of the key note speakers was Dr. Jonas Ridderstrale the author of “Karaoke Capitalism ” spoke on “Business Leadership in a Connected World”. A very interesting presentation that outlined some of the key trends to follow and implement in the business world based upon the new paradigm that the world is just so connected now.

1. The world is getting smarter but individuals are getting dumber
In a connected world group knowledge is growing and expanding exponentially, but for individuals are only growing at linear rate.

2. Centralised Systems are out !
Centralisation of knowledge in books or universities etc is no longer the where knowledge is kept or generated. Google and Wikipedia use the collective knowledge and leverages “group” thinking.

3. Predicting Does Not Help
There is a need to now to react to real time information. Expected Time Between Surprises (ETBS) is now shorter than ever, you need to thinking differently to overcome the surprises.

4. Need to Empower and Engage People
This requires having the right mix of Skill and Will of staff. Organisations need to promote and use people “pluses(+)” and not try to conform people to a “zero” state. People need to feel they are in control of their future.

5. Need to Continually Adapt Your Business Model
Just like the original space shuttle that was on track on 5% of the time, you need to continually look at your business model and adopt it. For example the impact on social media on organisations has been significant over the past 12 months – what has your organisation done about this ?

6. Organisations Must Have Dreams and Ideas
Where do they want to go and what do they want to be. For example Microsoft wants every PC to have their operating system on it.

Very good food for thought as we move into 2010 especially when our business outlook is looking so good.