Imagine this. You arrive at work, not necessarily in an office. Following you is the usual emails, a list of recent blog posts you follow, a stream of twitter tweets, requests from colleagues to be added to your social network page and a notice of a recommendation about you on LinkedIn.
Using your internet enabled telephone you are video conferencing with colleagues and customers - maybe even involved in a remote performance review with your immediate manager, while you respond to a variety of online messages and send your own. Your social networks enable you to share information, request help for a problem, catch up with friends, collaborate on a project with colleagues in different places, make a donation to your favourite charity.
This is not a blog entry about the virtues of technology. I am creating an analogy of the emerging network of relationships. Technology is simply the means to enable you to develop a broad relationship network. Technology is not a substitute for good, face-to-face, conversation it is a means of enabling communication in a world of remote and often virtual teams. Technology enables you to develop a web of networked contacts, each able to help you in a number of different ways. These contacts are valuable. In the past a good relationship builder may have had access to a network of ten to twenty people. Now a good relationship builder may have access to literally hundreds, maybe even thousands of contacts.
I would like you to consider the impact and consequences of a a networked society or a networked workplace. Where does leadership come from in these circumstances? How is trust developed and maintained? Where are the repositories of knowledge? Who becomes the influencers? What impact might the networked community have on flow of information? The balance of power? The decision making processes? Your ability to understand the systemic nature of your organisation, off your networks?
John Coxon
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Emerging From The Ashes
The title should more correctly state 'emerging from the laboratory' which is where so much of our future technology originates from. Someplace, somewhere in the world people are working on the future. They may not know what the future will be but they know they are working on changing the present and bringing in the new.
At various times in our history nations have risen to the pinnacle of their strength based upon their ability to exploit the emerging environment. In the past 300 hundred years we have seen the United Kingdom gain strength on the back of the industrial age, the United States become a dominant force on the back of firstly the railroads, then the motor vehicle and more recently military technology, the Asian tigers on the back of the microchip and even smaller nations such as Australia and New Zealand on the back of agriculture and natural resources. Waiting in the wings, for when they are ready, are a host of nations in Africa, South America and the Arab states, not to mention China and India, the two most populous nations, who, in time, will also reach their potential on the back of emerging technologies.
Growth of nations comes from embracing the future while learning from the past. In the past vast growth was achieved on the back of the motor vehicle. The desire and need for motorised transportation will not decline. Already the transportation sector is changing. The focus is on sustainability. How to move goods and people in a cost efficient manner, in safety, while reducing the impact upon our planet? From motor cars to airliners to seagoing freighters the future will provide work for many. The issue is not about the decline in oil supplies, it is about how to create cost efficient, clean, transportation.
Six billion people and growing. Developed nations struggle to provide cost effective medical assistance to their populations. People are living longer due to improved living standards and our scientific understanding of the factors that contribute to a functioning body. The systems and process that are failing the developed nations will also fail those nations yet to achieve prosperity. Some of these nations have large, diverse populations, often driven by centuries of tradition. Science and technology will continue to drive our food production, our medicines and our ability to repair ourselves when damaged. The marriage of business and science will continue to drive new innovative technologies and create work for people.
Nations at war do not progress, they stagnate. Eventually all nations will come to understand this. Just as they will understand that warfare is not the only way to gain global prominance. The Chinese have demonstrated that there are variations on the theme of democracy. Emerging nations will develop the means to blend their faith with effective governance. At the heart of a tolerant and peaceful world is an accepting community, one where diversity is welcomed, accepted and embraced. It is a community based upon collaboration rather than domination. Civilisations rise and fall, it is not possible to prevent the rise of any one civilisation. It is best to learn how to live and work together for mutual benefit rather than work towards extermination.
The desire for information is insatiable amongst the worlds population. Once a person has a taste for knowledge they simply want to know more. We gave up living in caves a long time ago. Information and education go hand in hand. There will always be a place for educators, for teachers and for those that enable the spreading of information. They have an important role to play; even though the mode of transfering information may change. Informed citizens are intolerant of injustice and of inequity. This is why various dictatorial governments will try to control the flow of information. They will ultimately fail. For every attempt to control the flow of information there are more people trying to develop the means to circumvent the controls. Attempting to control the flow of information in today's world is like trying to push water upstream with your hands. A pointless waste of energy.
This world we live in is ultimately a positive place, a place of promise and a place of potential. We cannot plan for the future; we live the future, now and today. By the time you have read this blog entry you are in the future. Go forward, enjoy and prosper.
John Coxon
At various times in our history nations have risen to the pinnacle of their strength based upon their ability to exploit the emerging environment. In the past 300 hundred years we have seen the United Kingdom gain strength on the back of the industrial age, the United States become a dominant force on the back of firstly the railroads, then the motor vehicle and more recently military technology, the Asian tigers on the back of the microchip and even smaller nations such as Australia and New Zealand on the back of agriculture and natural resources. Waiting in the wings, for when they are ready, are a host of nations in Africa, South America and the Arab states, not to mention China and India, the two most populous nations, who, in time, will also reach their potential on the back of emerging technologies.
Growth of nations comes from embracing the future while learning from the past. In the past vast growth was achieved on the back of the motor vehicle. The desire and need for motorised transportation will not decline. Already the transportation sector is changing. The focus is on sustainability. How to move goods and people in a cost efficient manner, in safety, while reducing the impact upon our planet? From motor cars to airliners to seagoing freighters the future will provide work for many. The issue is not about the decline in oil supplies, it is about how to create cost efficient, clean, transportation.
Six billion people and growing. Developed nations struggle to provide cost effective medical assistance to their populations. People are living longer due to improved living standards and our scientific understanding of the factors that contribute to a functioning body. The systems and process that are failing the developed nations will also fail those nations yet to achieve prosperity. Some of these nations have large, diverse populations, often driven by centuries of tradition. Science and technology will continue to drive our food production, our medicines and our ability to repair ourselves when damaged. The marriage of business and science will continue to drive new innovative technologies and create work for people.
Nations at war do not progress, they stagnate. Eventually all nations will come to understand this. Just as they will understand that warfare is not the only way to gain global prominance. The Chinese have demonstrated that there are variations on the theme of democracy. Emerging nations will develop the means to blend their faith with effective governance. At the heart of a tolerant and peaceful world is an accepting community, one where diversity is welcomed, accepted and embraced. It is a community based upon collaboration rather than domination. Civilisations rise and fall, it is not possible to prevent the rise of any one civilisation. It is best to learn how to live and work together for mutual benefit rather than work towards extermination.
The desire for information is insatiable amongst the worlds population. Once a person has a taste for knowledge they simply want to know more. We gave up living in caves a long time ago. Information and education go hand in hand. There will always be a place for educators, for teachers and for those that enable the spreading of information. They have an important role to play; even though the mode of transfering information may change. Informed citizens are intolerant of injustice and of inequity. This is why various dictatorial governments will try to control the flow of information. They will ultimately fail. For every attempt to control the flow of information there are more people trying to develop the means to circumvent the controls. Attempting to control the flow of information in today's world is like trying to push water upstream with your hands. A pointless waste of energy.
This world we live in is ultimately a positive place, a place of promise and a place of potential. We cannot plan for the future; we live the future, now and today. By the time you have read this blog entry you are in the future. Go forward, enjoy and prosper.
John Coxon
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
