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July 24 My C21st business pitch....Richard Lipscombe is an online asset for you and your company. He works online and occasionally onsite. He will travel to other countries and regions but sparingly. He believes in digital business models because they are cost efficient and effective. He runs a spartan business model. Richard has developed business models in heathcare and social networks. Otherwise he works on issues as directed with a simple three phase approach. Clear, hold, and build. Clear out the old ideologies to allow new ideas to breath. Select the best of these ideas to go forward by placing them into context. Design a framework for action to develop the potential of these ideas. Hold these ideas within a business model. Construct prototypes to test them. Test them to breaking point. Reframe these ideas as executable initiatives for the business. Build these ideas into new revenue streams. Richard has also developed a social networking model. He has studied the ways people gather on and use Web 3.0 links. He has identified three patterns of conversations that can impact your business. These are Chattering Clusters, Clans, and Tribes. Clusters form on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, Ning, etc. They can have 150 or so people in them chattering about all manner of things. Within these conversations they trash products, services, and brands they dislike and praise those they like. These conversations are full of positive and negative viral marketing. Clusters form with a low level of trust. Clans have a slightly higher level of trust and are populated by the early adopters of new ideas, technologies, products, and services. They form and implode quickly. Tribes are purpose built – they tend to be built to last and populated by people who have common ideologies or shared values. Environmentalists tend to form into tribes because they are dedicated to saving the planet from the worst effects of Climate Change, etc. Engaging
Richard to work with you on your problems is simple. Contact him by
email at the above address – set out your issue in the email. He will
reply by email stating where and why he might be able to help or
to suggest some other course of action for you and your company. July 14 I no longer farm this site...I thought of closing this site down today.... Decided instead to leave it stand... I love the collection of pictures I assembled to accompany earlier parts of this conversation... So here it stands to gather dust and cobwebs - is that what happens to disused web sites??? Whatever.... Come join me at the original site http://richard-lipscombe.tripod.com/clear_space_thinking Alternatively pop in on my Chattering Clusters site http://chatteringclusters.blogspot.com Just Google "Richard Lipscombe" and you will find my current comments and blogs.... Thanks for your time and your interest in this site..... Cheers for now.... Richard..... July 11 Chattering Clusters taught me to stay connected....We are now able to stay connected in ways that were not possible a few years ago. Is this a good or a bad thing? I don't know the answer. The fact is we have always been as connected to others as we wanted to be or needed to be. In the C19th we used hand-written letters to stay connected in general. We used printed materials to stay connected to customers. We went to community functions to listen to, and to talk to, those people we needed to stay connected to or wanted to forge a new connection with. In the C20th we added telephones, computers, and the internet and so being connected became so much more complex. We had to choose who we wanted to be connected to around the globe and we had to choose which channel, or technology platform, we would use to enable our connections. In the C21st we are now connected via our iPhone. We connect to everyone out there 24/7 by moving our finger over a hand-held screen. This gives us a whole new sense of being connected. It gives us a new sense of the numbers of connections we can accrue on our networks and the speed with which those connections can be accessed and activated. We have new things to learn about who we want to be connected to, when we want that connection, and why we want that connection. July 09 What is your story?Web 3.0 social networking is based on conversations that have a theme and a storyline. These conversations are dominated by the best story tellers. Take any current social topic and there is a storyline propelling it. The fact that Texas Crude Oil sells for around $US140 today has a storyline in most conversations around the world. If you want to blame someone for this price you tilt the story towards the futures traders who are bidding up the price of oil. If you want to put a rational and less exiting spin on your conversations about oil prices you turn to the obvious imbalance between supply and demand now that China and India are using more of the base load. If you like to put a technical spin on it you can talk about the inadequacy of refining capacity to meet current demand. If you like an historical perspective you can delve back to the last oil crisis and make a case for a lack of investment in oil discovery, etc. Out there today there are a multitude of stories being told about the crude oil futures. What is your story? What is it you contribute to the oil price conversations at work, home, and within your community? What difference would it make if you changed your story for a week? What if you took a more positive view of oil price rises or you put into an historical context or you promoted these price rises as helping us all to make the shift to a less carbon-intensive world? Change your storyline for a week on all the key issues that are being discussed within your circles. Assess how you feel. Examine the responses you get to your new story lines. Evaluate just how important your current and future storyline can be to how you are perceived in public. When you change your storyline back to what you really want to say you will surely find you are putting a much more coherent and considered position out there. Your story telling ability will have improved immensely because you have a more important set of points to make. Carbon addiction = higher prices....Some commentators in America are suggesting a tax regime that keeps the cost of crude oil at current prices even if they fall in the futures markets. The notion is simple. Set a floor for oil at say $US150 - it could be higher or lower - and when it rises above that level there is no tax implications. When and if the price of crude falls below $US 150 - as it is today - a tax is applied at the bowser to raise the 'actual cost' to consumers of this commodity back to the floor level. Not a popular move I grant you. Is it a practical move given our need to move away from carbon based economic solutions in the global and local economies? Yes! The argument about Climate Change is now a second order issue. The key issue is our addiction to oil. Oil is the foundation stone of our lives and economic well being unless, or until, we kick the carbon habit. Natural gas is a substitute for oil and so its addictive powers are rising as fast as its cost. Alternative sources of energy are good if we can ensure continued supply and distribution to sustain our current life style or consumption habits. The argument that moving away from oil to natural gas and then onto sun or wind power is fatally flawed unless we are prepared to ditch our contemporary mindsets, habits, and ways of thinking.... We are addicted to oil. It is a fact of life. We can give up this addiction or we can stay with it for a while longer. Either way our carbon addiction = higher prices...... July 08 Marketing is new all over again.....Marketing is a being reinvented by the real professionals - you and me, the consumer. Marketing had become the art of showing off your brand to the world with push events, publications, advertisements, etc. It was big business because it was all about promoting someone else's business to you and me. All that has changed - for the better I think! Marketing is now a conversation between you and me about what we like and dislike. It is the art of conversation that makes a difference with marketing today. I promote something I dislike to you - you are part of my ongoing conversation so you know and trust what I say. You also know that you tend to like what I tend to dislike - so when I tell you how much I dislike a product or service you become interested in a way that you would never have been had you seen, read, or heard an advertisement for this product, service, or event. Marketing has returned to its natural roots as it once again is a 'word of mouth' campaign to inform you about my likes and dislikes. The best things in life are free in our digital world - if you have a list of them then you can now add marketing to it. July 07 Chattering Clusters and C21st Scale....Among the lessons I have learned from Chattering Clusters is the importance of C21st Scale. The Chattering Clusters work at any scale. They work at the global scale and the local scale. They scale up and down in very quick time or oh so slowly. Rapid expansion can be followed by implosion. Slow steady expansion can result in large scale networks lasting for years if not decades. Clusters become Clans or Tribes because of the type of conversations their chatter leads them into not because it is more sustainable to scale. These are networked conversations and they scale because they provide 'use value' to more and more people not because of any notion of 'economies of scale'. These old manufacturing notions of economies of scale, value adding/value chain, intellectual property, copyrights, brands, etc do not apply in these networked clusters. C21st business is about networked information. It is a about how clusters of users access and connect to that information. It is about how much use value these clusters of users derive from these information flows and services. Networks are complex because they scale naturally or they do not survive. Networks are a messy organisational form they are chaotic, just like the school playground at lunch time, and yet they are patterned and efficient. Networks survive because they provide scaled value to each and every users who has access or chooses to stay connected. Networks are information, not labour, intensive - this is the big change from C20th to C21st business models because it means we are getting beyond people-based process after a century of reliance upon them. Networks are 'up scaled' when the information flowing around them is validated by their very next user. Networks are 'down scaled' or simply implode when the very next user fails to value her access or connection to this information flow. Clusters get shaped into either Clans or Tribes. Clans are much more unstable and unstoppable because they scale quickly. For example Clans that trumpeted their new iPod or iPhone were typical of the innovative nature of these entities and how quickly they can network their insights into new products/services. Clans are unpredictable and so they are not frequented by people who need 'a clear and present purpose' to belong to a group or an activity. The cross over from Clan to Tribe is when some individual starts to facilitate the flow of information. For example, those early adopters who worked out how to get your iPhone to function with those telecommunications providers not sanctioned by Steven Jobs and Apple. Tribes evolve around conversations that have a shared or common purpose. Tribes are less complex than Clans and thus much more resilient. I understand that many of you will have trouble with the way I use a term like "Tribe" here - remember these are Digital Age entities with much the same traits are Australian nomadic tribes that have roamed around my country for the past 40,000 + years. These tribes are virtual in some cases and very tactile in others - they have tabooes and rituals just as the native Aborigines did and for the same reasons - simply to maintain cohesion and a sense of 'belonging'. What I chat about here are 'C21st Tribes' - these are purpose driven networks and thus often work better at the local than the global levels of business. C21st Scale is different..... How different? Well that depends on which Chattering Clusters, Clans or Tribes you access or connect into right now and over the next few years. July 04 Implemented ideas = innovations.....Ideas are great to talk about and hard to implement. This blog is about thinking, habits, and change. Ideas are a direct product of Clear Space Thinking. The notion here is that if you want to get into clear space, beyond the reach of your best competitors, then you have to come up with some new ideas. If those ideas are to be implemented then you will have to change some habits. Its the habits not the absence of clear space thinking or lack of new ideas that holds back most businesses. Altering habits is the key to unlocking new futures. When you replace habits you change. There is no better environment for change, no better context for change, no better time for change than right now. Why? Because the carbon expensive global economy is no longer sustainable in its current form. Crude oil costs are rising sharply and this is flowing right through our Nation-State economies. Adding to the pressures for change are new networked businesses which connect everyone to everyone. Networked businesses bring speed to commerce because they link people but they do not depend on people processes. So the two big changes on the world scene are 1) the high cost of carbon 2) less need for people-intensive processes. You have been given a gift of 'disruptive changes' to your world. You are sitting at the cross roads of history. You have the opportunity to turn all your good ideas into innovations. You are well placed to implement your ideas because the world around you is changing in ways that were not imagined just 8 years ago. You have the chance to push your most 'out there' ideas and push them hard. You have the chance to develop your own special Clear Space with your ideas if, and only if, you can actually implement them. You can implement your best ideas if you can find a flexible, transparent, and passive revenue model to match them. The sticking point is not what most people think - it is usually the existing revenue model. If you have good ideas about passive revenue models then you have a perfect opportunity to change your past habits in business. If you can adopt your revenue models to better suit a high cost carbon world and the emerging C21st networked business process than you are on your way to a relevant and remarkable success. July 02 Transparent, open, agile, flexible, purposeful, focussed, soft powered, passive income, and nanosecond consumers.....What is a digital warrior? Who needs such a barbarian? Why should you hire one? The power shifts within the world today are primarily the result of digital technologies. The flat world of the internet has arrived early, perhaps too early for most of us, in the sense that most of us still live and work in organisations that are not really ready for it. Those that are ready to embrace the flat world are easy to spot - they are already digital networks not people-based organisations. Digital networks are new age entities and so most are less than 10 years old. If your organisation existed last century then chances are you need a digital warrior to help you build a digital network to replace your current C20th organisation. (Please note.... This rule applies to all the major consulting companies around the globe and especially to those well known brand names.).... Now for the fun part of this riff.... Digital networks are different because they are inclusive, transparent, open, agile, flexible, purposeful, focussed, soft powered, full of users, run on passive income streams, and accomodate nanosecond consumers. Wow that was a mouth full. So what does that all mean? To become a network you have be inclusive not exclusive - that breaks rule #1 of C20th organisations. To be inclusive you have to be transparent, equitable, and accountable in everything you do. To be transparent you have to be open - open to user or consumer inputs and negative feedback (you will learn to love negative feedback). To be open - yeah like Linux - you have to agile and flexible. To maintain your business or agenda focus while being open and agile you must be 'purpose driven'. To be purpose driven with a tight focus yet remain open and agile you must run your network with the hidden hand of 'soft power'. To be able to maintain a 'soft power' approach to R&D, sales, marketing, etc (here think of Google with its focus on free search which is enabled by click through advertising) you need a passive income stream (here think about your revenue model being detached from rather than integrated into your services or products). To be able to succeed with a passive income stream approach to business you will need to cultivate 'nanosecond consumers'.... Is it clear to you now precisely why you need a digital warrior to come to your business or organisation tomorrow? No? Well hang in there it will all become clear to you over the next few years as carbon-based and people-intensive systems begin to implode. Oh yeah I personally know and can highly recommend 'the digital warrior' you will need to help you get yourself sorted if you are having trouble with this type of stuff...... Obama and Clinton unite a nation over a bottle of water....The reality is the upcoming election of Barack Obama is a foregone conclusion. How can I know that to be a fact when it has not happened? I listen attentively to the Chattering Clusters, Clans and Tribes and they tell me they want change they can believe in. Barack Obama is the only candidate offering what they want. How do I know that to be a printably fact? I observe those 'little things' that tell the Chattering Clusters that Obama is their man. At an open air gathering the other day Clinton was praising Obama. She was telling the collected gathering that he offered them "change we can all believe in".... As I looked at the video I saw a tangible sign that she certainly knew what she was talking about... Next to the microphone were two plastic bottles of water - you know the type with the light blue screw on lids. As Clinton spoke Obama took one of the bottles of water and drank from it. He was immediately identifiable as one of the Chattering Clusters. He was one of them - that is what they would do if they were sitting there. He was sipping water from a plastic bottle just like they do - no glass, no jug, nothing but a plastic bottle with a blue top. Obama is 'change you can believe in' ......... No recession online.....The Chattering Clusters are still chattering. The clans are talking about the next big thing. The tribes are working on their next innovation or project - many are a brighter shade of green. On my Chattering Clusters index there is no recession. There is talk of change, chatter about rising fuel prices, blogging about what to do if you are caught out by a changing economic context, and concern about the impact of climate change on life as we know it on this planet. There is little or no sign of a recess of chatter online. The online economy is booming! Are you are part of the online economy? Do you earn a living from this digital networked economy? Do you chatter to people who do earn their living online? What is happening online for you and your friends? Can you see an end to this online boom? July 01 Spend your training budget on seminars and prototypes....Chattering Clusters have taught me that training is over rated. If you want to improve your digital business performance you are well advised to attend world class seminars - for cutting edge ideas - and spend the rest of the budget on simulations...... Chattering Clusters will tell you what is in fashion, where the market is heading, and which demographic changes are most likely to impact your business environment. Chattering Clans will inform you which fads are winning favour with the early adopters in your market. Chattering Tribes will tell you what is being innovated within your industry. If you find a 'cutting edge idea' at a seminar bring it home. Once you have the idea adapted to suit your particular business environs then you establish a 'framework for action'. The actions you take are first and foremost to model your idea and find a flexible revenue model to support it. Take the model and prototype it. Get instant, raw, top of the head, unfiltered, etc feedback from users about your prototype. Then simulate the conditions of working this new way with those key staff (and consumers) you need to support this new digital networked business. Clans inspire innovation - Tribes deliver it....Chattering Clans are full of innovators - they are full to overflowing with early adopters of new knowledge, market changes, and demographic shifts. If they are serious about driving innovation then they form a Chattering Tribe. Tribes are purpose built. They are built to last not built to flip. They are more likely therefore to deliver process, product, and service innovations. They are a contradiction to the conversations about 'innovation' that rages on Web 3.0. Tribes ensure that 'innovation' is a planned activity rather than a happening. The inspiration for the innovations we all benefit from undoubtedly comes from the Clans and their 'free spirited' culture - the innovation comes from the dedication, persistence, and focus within Tribes. Digital business is different....Perhaps the best news for digital business innovation is the rising cost or crude oil. The cost of oil is a dagger into the core of the C20th businesses which are still addicted to carbon-intensive and people-intensive processes. Carbon-intensive business models are no longer competitive with C21st digital business models. Digital business models are different - very different. The core asset is information not people. The core discussion is about users not customers. The core structure is networks not organisations. How different can you be? Information is increasingly machine not people based. It is networked via machines not people-intensive organisations. It is networked free to more and more users in a business model that defies the old paradigm of staff serving customers. The carbon and people component of global and local networked businesses can be very low. The marginal cost of doing business within a supportive network can approach zero. What is your business model? Is it dependent on a constant supply of cheap labour and oil? If so then go fold your tent..... Then go figure out how to go digital.... |
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