Increasingly the workplace is evolving, public and private. The focus is on value. The modus operandi is a blending of work and personal time. Work increasingly is more of a thing and less of a place and time. This is in large part being driven by the erosion of privacy and the efforts of marketers to dig deeper and deeper into our values and lifestyles in order to make their product pitch more focused and effective. Purveyors of goods and services want to be there with their “focused message” WHEN and WHERE we will consume. A consequence of this is a Newtonian action-reaction kind of phenomenon. We readily adopt and co-opt the use of same the technology for business and personal use (as intended by the companies who provide them) which has been provided to exploit our propensity to consume, and accelerate the process of transforming our lives to an “always on” mobile, connected lifestyle— extremely open, extremely social, extremely connected. We are hurtling into an “Extreme Future” (“The Extreme Future: The Top Trends That Will Reshape the World for the Next 5, 10, and 20 Years,” James Canton). We “Like,” we tweet, we Google, we Froogle, jump on Group-On and Wiki the pedia with fervor. Inch by inch we are seceding privacy and anonymity in order to attempt to remain relevant. It is not all bad – much of it not good. None-the-less these gale force winds of electronic media that are transforming our lives will win out. We should endeavor I think, to be very savvy and smart about what is happening and work hard on how to best position ourselves to be leaders (to effect as much positive change as is possible) instead of being left behind – constantly trailing. The forces, the gravity of these changes will win out in the end and we will not be able to remain relevant ultimately unless we embrace the changes and use them to our advantage when possible. There is a saying on Wall Street: “If all you know is what everyone else knows, you don’t know anything.” One has to be out in front, looking hard, trying to see things others aren’t seeing before it is overt and apparent to all, using the power of that information to add some value to the system, or be consigned to “knowing nothing” and as a consequence – add nothing.
I love these discussions that juxtapose the past mores against the reality and evolution of the present and future. They are enormously entertaining and of course illuminating. Companies offer no quarter to workers, but expect loyalty and fidelity in return. And where of course does the intellectual property, the innovation, the creativity come from in the first place? Luckily there are some venues left where “humanity” is struggling to survive! A BIG YAY for us! J
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Increasingly the workplace is evolving, public and private. The focus is on value. The modus operandi is a blending of work and personal time. Work increasingly is more of a thing and less of a place and time. This is in large part being driven by the erosion of privacy and the efforts of marketers to dig deeper and deeper into our values and lifestyles in order to make their product pitch more focused and effective. Purveyors of goods and services want to be there with their “focused message” WHEN and WHERE we will consume. A consequence of this is a Newtonian action-reaction kind of phenomenon. We readily adopt and co-opt the use of same the technology for business and personal use (as intended by the companies who provide them) which has been provided to exploit our propensity to consume, and accelerate the process of transforming our lives to an “always on” mobile, connected lifestyle— extremely open, extremely social, extremely connected. We are hurtling into an “Extreme Future” (“The Extreme Future: The Top Trends That Will Reshape the World for the Next 5, 10, and 20 Years,” James Canton). We “Like,” we tweet, we Google, we Froogle, jump on Group-On and Wiki the pedia with fervor. Inch by inch we are seceding privacy and anonymity in order to attempt to remain relevant. It is not all bad – much of it not good. None-the-less these gale force winds of electronic media that are transforming our lives will win out. We should endeavor I think, to be very savvy and smart about what is happening and work hard on how to best position ourselves to be leaders (to effect as much positive change as is possible) instead of being left behind – constantly trailing. The forces, the gravity of these changes will win out in the end and we will not be able to remain relevant ultimately unless we embrace the changes and use them to our advantage when possible. There is a saying on Wall Street: “If all you know is what everyone else knows, you don’t know anything.” One has to be out in front, looking hard, trying to see things others aren’t seeing before it is overt and apparent to all, using the power of that information to add some value to the system, or be consigned to “knowing nothing” and as a consequence – add nothing.
I love these discussions that juxtapose the past mores against the reality and evolution of the present and future. They are enormously entertaining and of course illuminating. Companies offer no quarter to workers, but expect loyalty and fidelity in return. And where of course does the intellectual property, the innovation, the creativity come from in the first place? Luckily there are some venues left where “humanity” is struggling to survive! A BIG YAY for us! J
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