Thanks to everyone who took the time to join our call yesterday to learn about our approach to the Future of Business [yes, it's a bit grandiose but we aim high!].  Charlene, Jeremiah, Ray & I all have a strongly held passionate belief that the future of business involves a 360 degree integrated approach involving lots of shifts and changes. The real interesting stuff happens when we view new tools and technologies not in isolation but in the context of the behavioral, sociological, cultural,  organizational and financial impacts our new Networked Age presents us with. A 360 degree impact requires looking outside as well as in.  In the not too distant future we will have a completely different set of rules and definitions of what even constitutes "inside & outside" an organization.  

In the hour we allotted, half of it was devoted to Q&A. We barely scratched the surface.  Our objective was to give you a taste of our approach, get some feedback and open the doors for you to tell us how you would like to work with us.  We hope to keep the dialogue going on our blogs and via the twitter hashtag #futurebiz.  We encourage you to prod and challenge us - it takes an ecosystem to innovate.

This morning I begin a new chapter in my career - I have joined the Altimeter Group as a Partner running the Innovation Practice.  I am super excited to join forces with Charlene, Ray  and Jeremiah - three extremely accomplished individuals!   In the short time in which we have been working together I have already seen how our experience and knowledge provide a 360 view of the emerging technology landscape and how it impacts business and society.  

My work life began in the early 90's when the Internet/Web first made it's presence known both culturally and economically.  I was smitten from my first hyperlink!  The power shift had begun!  The idea that technology could bring together people and organizations in new and exciting ways to bring new ideas and innovations to the world was and still is thrilling. Over the years I have participated in many different corners of the Web - from designer to coder to marketer to business person.  Throughout it all I have maintained the thread of focusing on the User/Customer and what this technology means to the individual and by extension business.  As a result I have often been a translator for both sides of the table - geek and non geek alike.  Bringing disparate points of view to the table to innovate and create something better is what brought me to this industry in the first place.

The world we live in today is porous - meaning that old definitions of public and private, business and free are being shredded.  The open web and flow of data mean that we need to develop new understandings and new strategies for business and personal life.  Just take a look at Deloitte's recent Shift Index and you know things have to change!

My vision for the Innovation Practice at Altimeter is to bring together the entire ecosystem in new and exciting ways that benefit us all. I realized the power of this both with my recent work at P&G and at a passionate session on this topic I ran at this year's Social Web Foo Camp.  This means that geeks, and thought leaders, vc's and big business ALL benefit by sharing knowledge earlier in the game.   Time to break up some of those homophily and work closer together !

If you are interested in learning more I encourage you to take the time to sign up for our webinar - we want to hear from YOU!  Also please feel free to drop a comment here or on twitter or on my altimeter email address.

The future looks bright!

Join The Altimeter Open House Webinar On The Future of Business
If you want to learn more about the Altimeter Group, we’re hosting an Open House Webinar to discuss the Future of Business on Thursday, Sept 10th, at 10am Pacific Time. (GMT – 8:00)  Sign up, it’ll be interactive where everyone can participate.

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Related Links:

The press release

Here is my half of a recent presentation that Brian Oberkirch and I gave at Web2Expo in SF, called "It''s the People Stupid- Designing Social Experiences.  The premise of the talk was that the participatory, social web requires a new design sensibility and new human skills & behavior that we are only beginning to understand. However, there are ways to look at this and a beginning framework from where everyone can start.  After all, we take our selves with us wherever we go - both online & offline.

In the footsteps of Yahoo and Google Hackathons - P&G  gathered a group of social web companies, geeks, marketers, agencies and P&G folks to Cincinnati this week for one night.  The goal? To demonstrate and learn about the power of networks and the impact of the digital world as it relates to marketing.  The press, madison avenue, and some bloggers [see complete list below] have written and focused on the the tactics of the event - using twitter and other online tools to promote & market a cause.  In my mind there is also a larger point and challenge. 

How do you teach a large, process driven organization to be innovative, work organically and think socially?

The hurdles to "getting digital" are not a technical understanding of the tools - they are cultural and organizational.  There are basic principles at play on the social web that need to be understood before one can jump in.  

Some principles and dynamics to think about:

• Opening up & loss of control
• The collaborative & organic nature of the medium
• The power and dynamics of network effects
• The importance of constancy and participation vs big grand gestures
• The personal intimate nature of the medium
• The importance of trust and relationship
• The always on - 24/7 nature of the web

The only way one can understand  and learn these attributes is by DOING. For those of us who live and breath this space, unpacking this etiquette seems stilted - we take the basics for granted.  To learn how to be a good "digital citizen" you need to understand the rules of the road.  Heck - even those of us who have grown up in this space can't keep up and continue to reinvent the rules.

The evening was chaotic and energetic. There were plenty of learning's on "both sides".  In full disclosuse [as many of you are aware] I have been working with P&G for the last year and a half as a "social web sherpa" of sorts, so it was exciting to get a good chunk of the digital ecosystem in a room to hash out and demonstrate some of these issues in real time.  I was not consulted on how the experiment was set up.  I probably would have eliminated the competitive nature and spent a bit more time on strategy and set-up ahead of time, but overall it was interesting to see the dynamics at play.  

Here are some of my quick learning take a ways:

•  Many of the P&G folks' thought the first task was to figure out the messaging of the campaign, where as the external folks just dived right in in plain English.
• The social web folks jumped on their networks first without necessary realizing the impact and focused on a long tail one-to-one approach figuring that network effects would take over.
• The P&G folks understood the need to identify where to get the biggest bang for their buck.
• The speed nature of the exercise brought out some incredible creativity. I had a sense that this freedom was very liberating for the P&G folks once they got into it.  Some of my teammates quickly brainstormed a quick rap [yeah-it's dorky, but they did it without planning or thinking about it too much.  We even got the team at Pandora to write a catchy little ditty. [Thanks Tim. It arrived a bit late, but kudos to them for jumping in.   Compare that to the month long planning cycles most companies go through.
• The P&G folks were often very process oriented and the invitees where comfortable with more chaos - meeting somewhere in the middle brought out the best.  
• Even the "digerati" who understand the principles of the social web stepped over the line a bit in the exuberance of the moment - to me this is a cautionary tale about the future of "influencers" and everyone's personal  understanding of their relationships, networks and personal brand.  Just as in the real world you are judged by your actions - so too are you judged online. Remember - Google is now the long tail of reputation.  
• The need for a different set of skills and expertise - teams needed a human connector to bring it all together and a catalyst to kick it off.  I see this as a growing skill set in business as a result of the social web. Think Community Manager meets Senior Executive.

In the end this was not about cause marketing - it was about demonstrating and learning the importance of the new principles and culture of the social web.  It is easy to say the big guys don't get it and walk away.  You only learn by doing.  I have a big cynical side, but I I have more faith in the social web and people.  I think that bad behavior will ultimately NOT be rewarded and I would rather educate and teach those who don't get it the rules of the road upfront.  We want big companies to take risks and experiment - let's not slap em too hard when they put a toe in  the water.

Other event-related posts [thanks Peter]:

Thanks to Chris at Gigaom for highlighting Boxee not only cause they are a cool game changer - but also the way they are "Proactively Listening" and acting on user feedback to run their business.  In the hyper-connected world - your community and your ability to "weave" is essential.  [link to a bunch of my presos on this topic].  

This is an entire new skill set that flattens traditional silos and definitions and constraints   - call it the "connector" on steroids, community manager, weaver, or my new favorite [thanks to great brainstorming with heather and kevin] - tummlers

   I know it has been awhile.

   I have not forgotten you.

   I could make up some lame excuse but truth is

   I have been researching and curating new inspiration

   I have been meeting and speaking and learning

   No excuses.   No resolutions.

I continue to be humbled by every person who  chooses to subscribe to this feed and support my work.

So, please stand by for a new design, new ideas and new long form posts coming soon.

In the meantime, my stream of consciousness is readily available over on twitter to prove that I am alive.

I will also continue to bring you posts from around the net that I feel are out of left field and/or are not in the mainstream and deserve to be shared more broadly! Please let me know what resonates with you and what you are curious to hear me rant more about..;)

[photocredit: Voidmstr]

Stuff I found interesting this week

Is Advertising Worth Saving?

Tags: socialweb, relationshipeconomy, advertising, magnolia

On Alice, Tik Tok, Marketing, CES, and Finding The Ground - John Battelle's Searchblog

Tags: magnolia, socialweb, cec09, economy

Stuff I found interesting this week

The case for Service Design

Tags: service, customer, innovation, magnolia

 One of the joys of being independent is I get to work with a variety of people on a variety of cool projects.  So at the same time I get to work with a company the size and scale of P&G on loads of innovative stuff, I also get to work with start-ups like My6sense on Digital Intuition  and a group of brilliant animators on a way cool new animated series called The Gloomers. When development on The Gloomers began - the economy was in a much different place - now that we are all belt tightening the shows may take on an entirely new these...stay tuned!

In tough economic times - reminding ourselves of the fun stuff we get to do is really important!

In the past few weeks as the economy has tanked, startups, VC's and pundits galore have taken a new look on what this means for the almighty ad dollar and the world of social media. None of this is new - it seems we live in a a cycle of pushing off these questions until we hit tough times. In a lot of ways it reads like a familiar scripted B-movie voice over.

"Can successful startups like Twitter and Facebook figure out a "real" business model? ; Will users put up with more and more ads inserted in the middle of their personal interactions? ; Will all this new data compromise individual privacy?: Will big advertisers flee back to old tried and true models in the face of economic uncertainty? Tune in next week to find out if advertisers will figure this out before struggling startups are forced to close their doors"

It sounds bleak, I know, but I actually have faith that we will weather this current storm and it will even be a forcing function for innovation in the industry. What is however troubling to me is that what is often lost in the above voice overs is the voice of the actual customer and what makes relevant sense.

So, when this Adage article with the provocative title "P&G Digital Guru Not Sure Marketers Belong on Facebook" hit the feeds, I got inundated with emails from a lot of folks asking me "what the heck does this article mean"? Given my current work with P&G [I am their advisor on all things social & emerging media], I am not surprised at being asked this question. What was more interesting was that there were two very different types of emails that took two very divergent views 1) business oriented-"what does this mean for advertising on the internet?" and 2) individualistic and purist-looking at the issue from the lens that says "big companies don't belong on my social network". Well, what it means to me is that we are at a pivotal change in how companies and customer's connect and we are still learning the new rules of the road. These issues are not black and white, all or nothing. I think Battelle summed it up rationally when he states that the social networks/social media and marketing can go together - the question is when and how.

A metaphor that we have used inside P&G is that "if you are invited to a dinner party and you show up and start selling Tupperware, there is a good chance you will not be invited back". In other words, you need to demonstrate value before you jump in and start yelling "buy me". Understanding how and when someone is interested in hearing from you inside a social network is radically different than when shouting across the airwaves with a 30 second spot. Ted demonstrates why I enjoy working with him and P&G - the consumer is always first. The mechanisms on the social web are different and we all still have a lot to learn. Smart companies  - be they big or small -  know that looking at the current version of the web with an old media lens ain't gonna fly. That is why I believe so strongly in the core principles I am working on both with P&G and the Doc Searls and the gang on Project VRM [Sean, Chris, Adriana and more] . Understanding that the user/consumer is in control is a foundation on which any business, ad or marketplace models will operate in the future.

This is the participatory web and the old media models are being shredded. The social web is my web - it's PERSONAL to me. I am not creating media when I am online so much as I am connecting with people using media as my medium. As today's "consumers", we lean forward, we skip ads, we have a strong point of view on products and services and we expect to be heard or left alone on our own terms. The social web can actually provide much deeper and more interesting connections for customers and companies than simply being a marketing channel - it ties into the entire product lifecycle. And that is where stuff gets really interesting...and much more complex. This is where relevance and context and trust and intention all come into play.

In a world where relationship and connection are at once more subtle and scalable than ever before the answer to the question of whether companies & social media can mix is not simply a Yes or No answer. Shame on Adage for oversimplifying this complex ecosystem in the hunt for business relevance. Both Facebook and P&G are working to figure what works for their users and their consumers. In the end it is respecting the individual and the consumer that is most important and I would hope we would take our time to innovate & figure out what works for the long haul and not jump to oversimplified "banner ad, yes or no" solutions.

The social web - just like life - is just not that binary.

Stuff I found interesting this week

Congratulations Motrin. You just proved why every brand needs to understand Social Media « Hard Knox Life: A Brand Manager Blog by Dave Knox

Tags: socialmedia, transparency, brands, magnolia

Avant Game: Special Mission: Inventing the Future!

Tags: magnolia, futureworks, collaboration, socialmedia, gaming

Prediction Markets at Google: A Guest Post - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

Tags: magnolia, predictionmarkets, collaboration, futureworks, socialmedia

As we gather our nuts and prepare for the long hard economic winter ahead, there will be an inevitable consolidation of companies, communities and customers.  I wonder down which path this slowdown will lead us?

This being conference season, I have had a number of interesting conversations with analysts, advertisers, investor's, publishers and start-ups.  The topic of the economy, globalization etcetera -  is of course top of mind.  Opinions vary on how this will all play out, what we can all pretty much agree on is that the social web has now entered adolescence.  This is a fragile time for a teenager - she is highly susceptible to influences - both good and bad.  Will she be dazzled by bling and a quick buck? Will she broaden her horizons via exposure to new ideas and people? [I will drop the metaphor before I beat the life out of it, but you get the idea]

In our enthusiasm over the potential of the social web, our rush to generate viable business models and find customers wherever they may be lurking - what forces will have the greatest long term impact on our social web?  Will we forget the fundamental human drives that gave birth to the social web to begin with? Will companies sell out their customer base for an advertising dollar? Will innovation be spurred by the need for creative re-invention or will it come to a grinding halt? During the great depression - the entertainment industry was a much needed escape from the daily grind [see Sullivan's Travels and rent it NOW if you've never seen it].  If we can look past current mass media models - we may have a real opportunity to create some amazing and viable participatory fun with all these great tools.

I am no macro-economist, but if we can self-organize  - what is the role of the multi-national? Can smaller economic trends mediate the big picture?   The participatory web will have a huge impact on shaping our economic and social future.   It is the next few years that are a big question mark. 

What forces will have the greatest influence on our teenage social web as she grows into adulthood? Will tough economic times - shape a more robust future? Or will she crumble under the pressure?

So - now that I got that out of my system  - what do you think? Did I lose you? Am I nuts?

A quick note to say thanks to Brady, Bre et al - for another great Ignite event.  Cupcakes were gorgeous and the talks were a blast.  I even got to express four years of "alley vs valley" in a compact 5 minutes!

Thanks to Sean, Sam, Jeff, Howard and Sarah for the inspiration!

NYC Tidbit: The classy theatre venue for last nite was a favorite haunt well over 10 years - it was a second run moving theatre [pre netflix, itunes].  You youngins may ask what the heck is a second run movie theatre? Back in the day movies that had been out for a few months would disappear into blockbuster oblivion.  Worldwide Cinemas would screen them - ticket price $2.  Of course the economics didn't hold out so alas they went belly-up.  Good times.

Here the chat.  Hugh graciously created a cartoon for me that alas -  did not make in time for last nite's preso so I used it here:

I also want to give a shout out to Daphne & Bill & the ExpoTV staff for hosting the first ever P&G Social Media lab cocktails prior to the event.  We had a great crowd, great food ,great conversation and even a few games of pool.  I particularly enjoyed getting to introduce partners to each other and getting feedback on how we can make the program even better.  I am hoping to make this semi-regular kind of event.  There is nothing like face to face for making connections.  I particulrly am going to explore how to make these events broader without losing the intimacy and ability to really chat.

Once again, as I have for the past four years, I woke up incredibly early, my subconscious prepped for a quiet solitude of sunrise reflection. I exchanged my annual phone and text messages with my fellow volunteers as I have every year on September 11th and then went about my day. 

Eight years is an emotional eternity and yet a blip in historical perspective - the world moves on and the event is a now a political pawn. The experiences of those who lived through the day are shared privately vs publicly and perhaps that is as it should be. I am always saddened by America's lack of history and ability to commemorate the fallen in a unified way - something akin to Israel's moment of silence on memorial day.  Now, more than ever this missing moment highlights the festering wounds.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends who lost loved ones on that tragic day. They are the only ones who truly understand the cost of terrorism.

Some past reflections:

Six Years - and a lifetime

Four years later

Three years - view from the west

Day of: events of the day[from Peter Merholz's blog as my original post lost in the cloud]

[Photo credit: Absolutwade]

I gave in. I caved. 

Brady, Jen and I were chatting at a recent dinner in SF, and the SF vs NYC conversation came up as it so often does in my life - and, well - after a few drinks my resolve was weakened.  Finally after four years of various ad-hoc conversations among friends from both coasts, I will indeed do an "alley vs valley" bit at next week's IgniteNYC. 

If I am lucky and get this right - I will equally tick off friends on both coasts. And that is where you come in. 

I am way too earnest to hit all the right notes so - so please leave ahead on over to the brand spanking new new "Alley vs Valley" wiki and have at it! please leave your snarks/comparisons in the comment section below!!! [till i fix the wiki]

I only have 5 minutes - so this will be pretty visual stuff!

Can't wait to hear what you have to say!!

[Note: Nod to Fred for inviting you to join in on the fun!]

Addition - in googling I find this CLASSIC article from 1999 read it and weep..heh

I am a huge fan of Michael Wesch ["the machine is us"].  This video of a talk he gave in front of the Library of Congress is worth the time [yes, 55minutes]..enjoy!

Thanks to Michael Cayley for the link!

While working with P&G to develop the Social Media Lab, I am constantly wrestling with the  BIG and SMALL issues relating to how the Social Web impacts business, marketing, start-up business models and our lives as individuals. When there is a  new set of dynamics that fundamentally shifts how you communicate and do business - how do you ensure that the smaller tests you are doing have BIG learnings that can be reapplied.

So it was interesting to trip onto this thoughtful post from Francois Goussieaux on the nature of how big companies are approaching Social Media. 

This argument sits squarely in the Social Media Lab's backyard.  Knowing that big companies do indeed have trouble making big changes all at once - the goal of the Lab is to help with baby steps - so the big programs can truly shine.

I also personally believe that there is no such thing as a social media campaign.  Social Media is forcing a fundamental switch in the power center of business and how information, markets and products are created and brought to market.  Whether you are a P&G brand or a start-up - the social web impacts how you connect with customers.  This is not only about social ads or viral videos.  And I sure as heck hope we can come up with better business models for Web2.0 companies than some newer form of banner ad.

That said, how do you run before you can walk?

As I wrestle with the issues of  innovation,  scalability, customer advocacy and new business models here is a sample of some of the questions currently rattling around in my brain:

• What is the best method for generating true innovation and new business models?
• What is the best way to test & learn smartly and efficiently?
• How do you best build bridges of learning across very different cultural groups - i.e. brands and startups?
• How do you best eliminate the fear of failure to encourage bold creative initiatives?
• When does connecting with the consumer cross the line to icky behavioral targeting vs helpful discovery?
• When are you enabling passionate fans vs exploiting them?
• How do you ensure that neither big business or small start-up leaves the customer in the dust in a rush to the shiny new thing?
• Do test programs help in developing innovative approaches to business or are they simply dabbling? [this applies to start-ups and big business]
• As Social Media is all about relationships and connections - can it even scale authentically to support a billion dollar business [see peter's post for more]?
  

I've got lots of questions and some hypothesis grounded in "ya gotta start somewhere", but I am also impatient, so what do you think?   How would you generate a big shift?