The Auto Transportation Revolution

Orchestrating the Auto Transportation Revolution

The Opportunity for Re-Imagining Auto Transportation Solutions

I am writing this for those angels, backers and builders who will come together to help launch the Glia Auto Ecosystem Platform, whose purpose is to shape, develop and build the auto transportation future for cities and regions. 

My goal for this post is to cover five key points of understanding for those interested in forming the core team that will orchestrate the Auto Transportation Revolution. I do not want to leave any doubt that this is an opportunity of a life time. I will not be able to overstate this, and that I am looking for those with the "right stuff" that have what it takes to capitalize on this opportunity. 

• that a revolution in the auto transportation industry is well under way
• the trends and technologies that are driving and shaping this revolution
• the key organizational principles and technologies that will organize this revolution
• some of the key stakeholders that should have ownership of this revolution
• there is an enormous window of opportunity in orchestrating this revolution

The Revolution in Transportation

The current auto industry is a two trillion dollar business, with the production of 66 million vehicles per year, employs upwards of close to 60 million people directly and indirectly, and whose basic modus operandi has changed remarkably little over the last 100 years. (The Entrant's Guide To The Automobile Industry). 

But as was the buzz at this past Frankfurt Auto Show, there was an unmistakable sense of disruption, with even GM CEO Mary Barra recognizing that  “we will see more change in the industry in the next five to ten years than we have in the last 50.”

The gales of Joseph Schumpeter's "creative destruction" are taking on ever increasing force. 

While much has been made of Apple's entry into the auto world with its Project Titan, and Google with its self driving car--and these two entrants certainly will push the needle--the forces are much greater, and much more subtle than that of Silicon Valley's interest. And more so than Elon Musk and Tesla. To be sure, there are enough critics saying that none of these will be able to seriously disrupt the auto industry, but much of that criticism lacks an understanding of the bigger picture, and the other forces at work. 

For that, we need to dig deeper, much deeper. While my expertise is more around the organizational architecture that binds together ecosystems, platforms, stakeholders and customers, along with the leadership and performance culture such systems require, I will reference here Evangolos Simoudis from the excellent group of minds at Enterprise Irregulars.

Evangolos's three part series here in part one, part two, and part three does an excellent job giving a broad and deeper look at where the industry stands today, why it is being shaken up, and where things could be going. This isn't exhaustive, by any means, but does help to give our mental models a much better framework from which to evaluate the state of play. Horace Dediu, whom I've already referenced above, adds a bit more in his follow up post, Soft Underbelly.

It is in this paragraph that we get deeper clues as to where things are heading: 

The fact is that engineering cars is actually fairly easy. Building them is the hard part and the costs of engineering new models that are cited as so extraordinary are because most of the effort is in engineering for production(The maxim is that it’s far harder to make a Ford than a Ferrari). You can see this in the proliferation of “boutique” supercars which have hyper performance but low volumes. McLaren, Bugatti, Pagani and dozens of others are all recent hypercars which show the power of engineering and design without worrying about volumes.

The key here is the difference between mass production, and more custom production. And it is the means and location of production that can, and will, become another significant factor in revolutionizing the auto transportation industry. More on this as we progress.

We can't go any further here without mentioning Uber, which has its sights on more than just disrupting the taxi industry, and is representative of the sharing economy, and the changing habits of how people conceive of getting from A-to-B, and that of vehicular ownership. Likewise with car sharing companies and business models like Zipcar, and too many others to list here.

There are two other fundamental movements afoot that are part of this radical remaking of the business and culture of auto transportation, and that is the rise of the autonomous vehicle, and 3D printing/network scale custom localized manufacturing. Local Motors has been pushing the envelope on bringing 3D printed cars to the market. Local Motors is more than just another car manufacturer, but it is also at the vanguard of new business models, and in making production local. We'll look more closely at local manufacturing and 3D printing later.

It is impossible to overstate how much autonomous, self driving transportation is going to change how people move about. Nor that what was not long ago more the stuff of science fiction, is now the stuff of the present. We won't get into into why Google is a major investor and developer of the technology, but let's be assured they are not doing it as a high school science project, and perhaps why former Hyundai America CEO and President, John Krafcik is now is now CEO of Self-Driving Cars, Google.  Tesla already has on the roads cars with highly advanced driver assist technology, self driving Daimler transport trucks have been approved in Nevada, and China's self driving buses highlights autonomous techs real potential.

Autonomous vehicles on their own are exciting enough, but not on its own enough to revolutionize an industry, it is when combined with the ubiquitous mobile phone, and big data, we get a fundamental shift.

This isn't a treatise on the trends and vectors reshaping an industry, but rather enough to impress upon you that this is a vast convergence of trends and technologies, from different players with a lot at stake.

With that in mind, let's look further at some of the other macro trends involved.

Converging Trends and Technologies

It's difficult, if not impossible to understand where the future is going without having a basic understanding of business ecosystems. I covered this somewhat in a previous post here The Future is Social Business Ecosystems, and Deloitte does their usually great job of the business end with Supply Chains to Value Webs and Business ecosystems come of age. MITSloan explores further yet in Thriving In An Increasingly Digital Ecosystem.

What does this mean? In very short, the business and customer value is being created further and further away from the C-Suite. 

This is profound for several reasons, not the least of which is the future of the C-Suite, and that of the legacy organization. No less an industry giant as General Electric recognizes this, which I summarized in a Google+ post last spring The Tower of Power. 

Greg Satell, one of my favourite explorers in how digital trends are shaping our future, covers well one my favourite books on operating in more decentralized, complex business environment, Team of Teams, In his recent post, We Don’t Need The Best People, We Need The Best Teams, Greg pulls together how we think of productivity needs to change in order to be more adaptive in how we create value, and more so in a business world more dominated by ecosystems than that of the traditional stacked business.

As a long time researcher of these trends, I recently have concluded that Distributed Intelligence and Functional Know How are now the prime proficiency that organizations must master.

"This is the fundamental basis of the SmartSwarms Networked Intelligence Management System. Strategy and know-how are no longer the domain of the C-Suite, and for that matter this centralized intelligence approach is now the main barrier to new growth and generation of value. Exponential Organizations are one such "future of organization", and at some point in the next ten years, give or take, the legacy organization will not be able to adapt fast enough to keep up. The know how for car development and manufacturing is well established and "out there", it is the old industrial era models that are retarding this know how from flourishing." 

This is what makes Uber so effective. But it is also much more than that, it is how companies like Uber are proving that platforms are the new way to organize work and talent. These autonomous teams of talent do not need to respond to the chain of command, which is what stifles large organizations to be truly innovative and adaptive. Legacy models, which describes all the car manufacturers, habitually want to centralize control and decision making. As Robin Chase, one of the Founders of ZipCar writes, Institutions have internalized lessons that no longer apply, and continue to rely on strategies that no longer make sense. 

Long time inspiration of this decentralized movement, and co-author of The Power of Pull, John Hagel, further defines The Power of Platforms. 

What has this got to do with the auto industry? The car as we know it is increasingly a product of the manufacturer's ecosystem. We talked about some of the tech giants earlier that are looking for a piece of the auto industry pie, but as I noted then, this trend is much more subtle than that. Dozens of tech startups are Unbundling The Car. Recently appointed CTO of General Motors, Jon Lauckner, recognizes that the necessary innovation isn't going to come from within, but from start up enterprises. His position is “We no longer rely solely on our in-house expertise, which is a big change from where we’ve been in the past,”.

Magna the autoparts giant, is by no means standing still and has made innovation a core part of it's value added strategy to parts supply, and doesn't answer to any one company. 

Are we starting to see a pattern here? 

The legacy style business model and means of organization is not where the industry needs to be in 5-10-15 years. That command and control bureaucracy is the auto industry's biggest anchor. And there is very little to indicate that the industry will be able to change and adapt. 

As Gillian Tett writes in The Silo Effect, "Organising companies into discrete divisions makes responsibilities clearer — but it also leads to bureaucratic rivalry, corporate infighting, and the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. In short, the miracle of the division of labour can all too easily degenerate into the nightmare of The Silo Effect."

This report, from the consulting firm Booze, Allen &Hamilton, Challenges Facing The Global Auto Industry, is particularly insightful, broaching the possibility of purely platform driven companies emerging to deliver the final product. As mentioned earlier, the know how and do how for designing, creating and building the vehicle is a domain that is no longer central to the industry giants. The main gist here is that the status quo is either going to go through another massive consolidation (which will leave them no better prepared for the meta-trends), or disintegrate into ecosystem based platforms, with the brand name being the basic remnant from the 20th century legacy models.  

New York based venture capitalist, David Packman, with his excellent analysis in a recent Medium article, The Auto Industry Won't Create The Future, opened by saying "I believe this inevitable transition creates a very clear set of vectors for disruption of the traditional automotive industry and, like other industries transformed by technology (newspapers, travel agents, the music industry, traditional retail, etc.), many new winners are likely to emerge. Let’s examine why." 

Another ground breaking technology coming of age is The Internet of Things (IoT). This technology, or technological system, I am happy to report, is already well adapted by companies like GM and Whirlpool. But that is only the beginning of the story. Auto makers will by no means have a proprietary lock on this technology. What the IoT enables is a scale of efficiency for business ecosystems, and networked style organizations (more on these next). In other words, this enables much different ways of organizing the components that go into the making of a vehicle, which is to say how you organize the eco-system that actually makes all the components that go into a vehicle. This will be an integral feature of how vehicles will become "smart".  

Another technology that will have a significant impact on how business is organized is the blockchain. I mention it here, as this disruptive technology will also have implications for Internet of  Things. IBM, already a leader in the IoT, is likewise moving quickly on the blockchain, as explained here in what is blockchain, and what does it have to do with the Internet of Things?. 
It is noteworthy to mention that virtually every major bank is investing in the blockchain, which can most simply be described as a distributed, public ledger hosted on a peer network of computers. 
We will touch more towards the end on the blockchain as to how it relates re-organizing the future of auto-transportation.  

This IBM Report is an excellent over-view of the potential behind IoT and Blockchain combined.

For a comprehensive report, that outlines the six "mega-trends" I have touched upon here, Deep Shift, from the World Economic Forum is an excellent overview.

To sum up here, what we are seeing is an unmistakable tectonic shift in how the nature of auto transportation can be organized, and owned. 
The growing consensus is the legacy models of the 20th century auto industry players are ill suited for this shift. Again, this is something General Motors CEO Mary Barra recognizes, "We're going to disrupt ourselves, we are disrupting ourselves, we're not trying to preserve a model of yesterday". Time will tell if the industry can "disrupt itself". 

The auto industry's expertise is in mass manufacturing and push sales, a model that will increasingly become irrelevant due to the continuing fragmentation of sales base. 

Key Principles, Trends and Technologies For Organizing This Auto Transportation Revolution

This is a conceptually difficult concept to transcribe and describe on paper, which in my experience is why so many business that know a different organizational structure is necessary, but find it exceedingly challenging to do so. 

In our case here, once we understand all the knowledge necessary for the design and manufacturing of the auto exists within the auto-industry eco-system, and not within legacy model, we can begin to conceive of business and organizational models that will replace the old organization, which has not changed appreciably since Alfred Sloan designed it in the 1920's.

However, before we go too far, we have to have a basic understanding of just where auto transportation might be in 10 years.

Autonomous Vehicles

To say the now inevitable shift towards the self driving car changes "everything", is to understate just how much personal transportation can and will change. 

For starters, we will need fewer cars. For cities, this will mean far fewer parking spaces, and eventually no longer a need for street parking (which also means a loss of revenue). Parking garages will become wasted spaces, while opening up a wide variety of opportunities for their re-purposing. 

The biggest gain we can conceive of is commuting. This is a massive opportunity in value creation and cost savings in transportation and infrastructure. 

This also opens up the opportunity for a paradigm shift in the nature of car ownership. 

Software, Hardware, and Big Data

That auto vehicle will become a product and service that is combination of software, hardware and big data. This is already so, but that will accelerate dramatically, particularly when combined with artificial intelligence. (you can see Mercedes Benz's vision for such vehicles here)

Imagine swarms of self driving cars attending to most of our urban transportation needs, where our smartphones organize our trips, and ride payment is through cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin), you'll start to get a pretty good idea of where this is all heading. 

Mass Customization

Mass customization is another trend that is a convergence of technological progress, data, and cultural norms and expectations. For the Glia Model, we refer to this mass customization as "networked scale custom local production". 

As I hinted at above, as 3D printing matures, along with advanced, ubiquitous robotics, localized custom manufacturing becomes possible. When we look at this within the greater context of the future of manufacturing, we can begin to conceptualize a future where we move from "off shoring" jobs, to "near sourcing" jobs. This becomes more important when put together with the trends of robotics and automation continually replace the current workforce (we need to be clear this also includes "white collar" workers), and the growing crisis of not enough skilled workers for the kind of economy we are heading towards. 

It is in my very strong opinion, for cities to maintain a vital economic base, localized manufacturing and the creation of the next generation of highly skilled workforce becomes urgently necessary.

Pertaining to changing consumer demands, this report from IBM, Challenges for the auto industry in an on demand environment, states "Consumers no longer accept standardized products, but want products that satisfy their individual requirements".
This is a very difficult arena to compete in for an industry built around the tenets of 20th century mass manufacturing.

The case I have been building here is as such:

• Technology is rapidly evolving to deliver personalized hardware/software products and experiences, at a "network scale" for affordable costs. 
• The consumer is evolving rapidly to expect these services and products. 
• The very nature of the individually owned auto as transportation is changing. 
• The mass production and growth sales of the auto legacy is creating ever increasing congestion and infrastructure costs for cities and regions. 
• The traditional auto industry's growth model, and the needs of cities/regions and their citizens are at odds.
• Organizational and business models are rapidly evolving and emerging, that when combined with evolving technologies and consumer trends and needs, allows for a much different framework for the auto industry, and its relationship to needs of consumers and city-regions. 
• These new models should be predicated on providing "auto transportation solutions and experiences" rather than gross sales of individual units.
• The ecosystem exists to provide the new model for personalized transportation solutions and experiences, but it needs to "Gravitate" around a new platform model
• Cities and regions can be at the forefront of developing the platforms and "gravitational pull".
• Glia is to provide the "operating system", expertise, leadership and vision for the platforms and ecosystems. 

Four Distinctive Markets

Based on my owns observations of these trends over the last 5-6 years, I envision three opportunity markets.

• The Commuter Market
• The Family Market
• The Contractor/Professional Work Vehicle Market
• The Luxury Experience Market

As has been said of Wayne Gretzky, the key to his play-making genius was his vision and understanding of where the puck was going to be, rather than where it is was at the moment. 

To successfully transition the revolution in auto transportation, it will be in intimately understanding where it will be in ten years, and aligning the auto-ecosystem towards these targets. 

Again, it is in my very strong professional opinion the current auto industry structure is comically ill-suited to hit these targets, and for that matter, represent a significant barrier. This is not to say the auto brands cannot play a significant role in the co-creation of our regional transportation future, but what I am emphasizing they cannot lead our regional transportation solutions future with the best interests of our regions in mind. I believe the local auto dealership ecosystem is better poised to be part and parcel of the regional interests. The corporate model is legally committed to the needs and whims of its shareholders, a legal commitment that has repeatedly put it at odds with consumers and societal stakeholders alike. 

Which leads us to...

Who Owns The Revolution? Key Stakeholders

The technological progress that is shaping our collective futures is awesome in the very sense of the word. However, you do not have to study these technological trends for long to get a keen picture of impeding  utopia or distopia. All the progress in the world will be for naught if it does not improve the welfare of the citizens of society. 

This is unquestionably a watershed moment for business and society, and who owns, and who benefits in our future.

This is much, much more than the future of our auto transportation, this is about the future of our societies, and our economic organization. 

The Glia "Operating System" was conceptualized and designed on the premise of shared ownership, what we termed "networked capitalism", a capitalism where the local populace and stakeholders have an ownership in the means of production, and to shape our own transportation solutions.

We want to tap into the expertise and vested passion of our local businesses in the auto industry, such as auto dealerships, the capacity of our local telecommunications businesses, along with our knowledge within the public enterprise,  and the hive of local entrepreneurs to form the hubs that keeps the designing, development and delivery of the future of urban transportation where it belongs--In Our Cities.

Not Wall Street, Not Silicon Valley.

We will of course work with technology providers of all shapes and sizes, but with the primacy of keeping the terms in favour of the wants and needs to local businesses, the city, and its citizens. 

As a student and observer of "Wall Street" and "Silicon Valley" capitalism for over thirty years, I have no doubt that neither of these centres of gravity can hold our best interests in mind, and develop the future we deserve. They are incontrovertibly locked into a system that will give us the future that best enriches the few, rather than that of enriching the many. 

Personal Data

We would be dramatically remiss if I didn't bring data and its ownership into the equation. With data already considered as the new currency, along with privacy and security issues, who owns the data that the platforms generate is no trivial matter, and one on which our future prosperity and quality of life hinges.
For the kinds of revolutionary transportation networks to work efficiently and seamlessly for the consumer, such a system will rely on enormous amounts of personal data, along with Trust and Identity mechanisms that enable the smooth functioning of a largely autonomous transportation system.
It is essential in my opinion that the cities and regions have a significant stakehold in the platforms, rather than rely on third party platforms such as Uber, Google, etc. 

A rapidly emerging technology known as blockchain will prove to be the most important technology development of this century. (here, here, and here will give you a primer taste of the tremendous potential of this technology).
Not only will the blockchain fundamentally transform accounting and legal contracts, and dramatically reduce transaction costs while increasing trust, it enables us to build much different types of organizations, ones that can tie together the power of networked business ecosystems, with that of the good of society and distributed ownership. In context of personal data issues, along with trust and identity, well designed use of the blockchain technology becomes essential.
For the purpose of building the kind of organization that will bring the future of transportation to cities and regions, I refer to "high prime minister" of venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins, who recently wrote, "Our leading thesis is this: the most valuable companies being built in this space will use block chains as a deliberate architectural choice in their stack, but in a way that’s invisible to end consumers. As far as consumers are concerned, these will be services that are cheaper, faster, and more secure than ever before."

For the economic health and vitality of the city and its region, this is a tremendously powerful development.

The Window of Opportunity

I will bring this to a close by making the most important point of all. This is not just a business concept and proposal for which I seek your financial backing and intellectual capital. This is much more, this is an unprecedented opportunity to shape our future. 

That window is open NOW. It will not remain open for long. I can not express it loud enough the urgency with we must move forward . 

With your backing and support, we can begin immediately at getting to work on developing and building our own auto transportation solutions, and significantly shape our economic future and prosperity. 

Seeking Regional and Businessan Orchestrators!

Seeking Regional and Business Orchestrators

If you have

• an entrepreneurial mindset
• are a natural leader 
• have a keen understanding of the challenges businesses and the workforce face in today's rapidly evolving economic environment
• and you understand that the old business models and organizational systems are not suited to flourish in that environment 

Glia, the Social Business Ecosystem may be the ideal opportunity for you.

If the thought of becoming a key player of a team building a global organization is what inspires you, and you have what it takes to orchestrate value in an ecosystem of businesses and free agent talent, I am looking for those remarkable people who want to fulfill their true potential, and go beyond the ordinary. 

This is what I am looking for in these key, leadership positions:

--understand what business ecosystems are

--basic understanding of the Exponential Organization

--proven ability, or remarkable potential at building on ideas

--well rounded, well read on business and society

--broad understanding of technology, business, environment and social issues

--a creative synthesizer

--good at networking

--excellent social media presence. 

--brings out the best in people

--infectious energy, a curious mind

Creating The Future

Successful candidates will become key players in building the team that continually bring in the talent and businesses into the Glia Ecosystem, along with the necessary resources to make Glia a world leader in Social Business Ecosystems. This starts with seeding a small, select set of cities, creating a networked culture that will grow into a global, networked organization. 

As a team, we're driven by the purpose of providing the leadership the world needs right now, and the ability of a networked organization that can create value in addressing the smallest, and biggest challenges facing business and society today. 

This is a ground floor opportunity to get in at the beginning of leading in creating the future of how we organize people and business. 

 

The Exponential Organization

Network Effects

Well, isn't this exciting! 

Our design for Glia, a social-business ecosystem, which is inherently networked, takes advantage of network effects, and for exponential growth and value creation. Now we have more evidence as to why this is the organizational model of the future. 

In their new book, The Exponential Organization, Salim Ismail, Michael S Malone, and Yuri van Geest, make one of the best cases yet as to why the industrial era, command and control bounded organizational model will not survive in this century. 

"Any company designed for success in the 20th century is doomed to failure in the 21st.” - David S. Rose

Which has been my mantra for this entire century.
As I made the case in my previous post, the data is irrefutable,  most businesses are flatlined, or have caught a wave not of their making. As more entrepreneurial leaders move to the networked model and its exponential effects, the pressures on the old world business models is going to increase.

This is why we designed Glia as an ecosystem, businesses in the mature phases of their lifespan can become part of the ecosystem, and make a relatively controlled adaptation of a networked architecture best suited for their business. It is appearing more and more this isn't just a way to find new growth, but also a matter of survival.

This post here does a terrific job of pulling together a lot of the themes and charts onto one page.

Before we get too excited, I think it's important to make a distinction between a well designed networked organization and its ecosystems, and that of the collaborative economy, and the businesses that has spawned. In this terrific piece, The Mock Trial of the Collaborative Economy, one of the most insightful writers of this generation, Diana Filippova sets her keen mind on much of what has gone wrong, errors the next generation of models must avoid. Filippova hits it as I do, the necessity of distribution being baked into the model's DNA:

Why? A great number of challenges we are facing today are not economic. There are two of them that I believe are critical: the future of work and the distribution of value created. As I will argue in the second part of this series, collaborative practices and models could not properly solve these challenges all by themselves, at least not in a way that our societies would deem sustainable and fair. For sustainability and fairness are the result of a choice and are based on values. The collaborative economy may be still a convenient term to describe practices and models, but it does not say anything about our values and principles, which should be considered from political, social, cultural and philosophical standpoints.

I remain unwavering in my belief that we can be at the beginning of one of the greatest eras of wealth creation in human history, one that can distribute the wealth as never before. But to achieve that we must take enormous care and thought into the design of these new systems and models, and have the leadership and culture that understands that in these models, your must feed and nourish all the points in the network.

The Future is Social Business EcoSystems

The Future is Social-Business EcoSystems

Building the Case for the Glia Design

Context

Breaking from the pack isn't easy. Yet, as this comprehensive study from McKinsey and Company shows, most companies are mired in being just average. 

For example, we saw that the corporate world, like the world beyond it, has a relatively small number of elites and that, just as society grapples with the contemporary challenge of limited social mobility, many companies seem stuck in their strategic “class.” Escaping the gravity of the corporate middle class, indeed, requires businesses to expand or reinvent themselves unusually rapidly, often in the context of an industry whose overall performance is improving.

What are the implications for being in the middle pack?

• If you’re in the middle, you mostly face a battle of inches. A fortunate few companies will ride a favorable industry trend. But for the most part, it will take substantial strategic or operational shifts to escape the gravity of market forces. The odds are against you, which elevates the importance of looking at strategy with a high degree of rigor.

Another trend to consider here is the lifespan of companies is shrinking.

 Ultimately, the challenge faced by all companies is to grow at or above the pace of their industry without losing control of their operations. The Innosight study shows that very few companies achieve this goal.

Encouraging? Hardly. What's happening? That technology is disrupting business models is hardly news. That "digitization" is impacting strategy is also not news. Awareness, or ignorance, of the depth and nature of economic environment shouldn't be the problem. So what is?

Leadership

Or, rather, a lack of leadership. Leadership isn't a title on a door. It isn't authority. It isn't management. It isn't being the head of a company or division. These positions are in abundance. Leadership, however, is not. And all the fads around leadership today are more myth than reality.

There is little doubt that many of the problems afflicting modern society are traceable to an extraordinary dearth of leadership.  In politics, business, education and a myriad of other fields, we are continuously reminded of the inadequacies of those in charge.

The challenges don't stop there. The university system that served the industrial era economy reasonably well, does not serve an economic landscape that is much different  from the previous few hundred years. What we have now is an education system training kids for a world than no longer exists.
What about the employee base companies do have to work with? They're mostly not engaged with their work.

For businesses today, leadership is about moving out from the morass of mass mediocrity to a world that gets the most from its talent base, it's people assets, and delights its customers.
This is what is required of leadership today--to guide stakeholders, assets, people and customers from the mountain peak it is currently on, down the slope and through the valley of death, and then create the more prosperous mountain peaks on the other side. Most everything else is mere shuffling of deckchairs on sinking ships.

The Mountain Peaks of Prosperity are Thick with Rainforests

More so than ever before, businesses are the function of ecosystems. Understanding even that is a big step forward. Nurturing the ecosystem upon which the business depends is a bigger step yet. Leading the way towards seeding and growing rainforests is what any responsible leader should be striving towards. Rich, diverse, well conceived and executed social business ecosystems are where the "gold" lies, the future 'engines' of prosperity. 

This isn't a trendy metaphor, but rather a much deeper, richer understanding of how the world is, and how economies function, and their role in a prosperous society. 

+Jennifer Sertl , one of my trusted sources with her finger on the pulse of business today,  returning recently from the Sibos conference, brought these insights from the thought leaders in the finance industry. The financial industry. Not academia. Not flowery optimistic change agents. The financial industry. Let me highlight a few key paragraphs from Jennifer's recent LinkedIn post on the conference:

Swift has an internal innovation lab called Innotribe, which is a group of individuals who travel globally to collect innovative thinkers to bring to Sibos to help bridge the gap between protection and innovation. Two speakers in particular made it very clear that competitive advantage today requires individuals build robust relationships across business sectors. Peter Hinssen asserts,“if you understand networks, you will understand the future.” Things are more relational and less hierarchical. There is too much to know and individuals can no longer be single point sources. Those who will have the best sense of reality are those who live and foster relationships in robust networks. So many people like to be with individuals that are similar in lifestyle and expression. Yet, navigating complexity requires people to be more interested in what they have to learn from one another than what it is that they have in common. Similarly Ann Badillo urges that rather than think of a network as a community, think of it “as a rainforest.” She says,“we need to go beyond building networks to building eco-systems.” This requires a much more robust inclusive design around friends, clients, customers, shareholders.

This may be the best paragraph I've read yet summing up the reasons to move towards a vastly different way of thinking of the business entity and it's place in the socio-economic environment.
Sertl goes on to say:

 Sustainable innovation and entrepreneurial growth come from ecosystems, not mere assets. Ecosystems are environments designed from the bottom-up to foster serendipitous interactions. The ecosystems are nurtured by several key cultural traits: connectivity, diversity of ideas and talents, deep levels of trust, motivations that rise above short-term zero-sum calculation, and cultural norms that encourage dreaming, risk-taking, and paying it forward.

Every single point there is bang on, and can't be separated from the other. This isn't some kind of piecemeal strategy. It's all in, or all out. The losers will be those that could only ever dip their toes in the water, that never dove in and learned how to swim in the new environment. The leaders will be those that inspire all involved to dive in, learn to swim, and learn to synthesize and synchronize.
If you're thinking to yourself that a lot of the culture and culturally rewarded behaviours of today's organization are ill-suited to the new environment, you're absolutely right. Leaders will know how to either sort them out, and rid the organization of the ill-suited, or inspire their charges to embrace the new world, and how to thrive in it. The knowledge needed to thrive in these new environments abound.
In closing, Sertl nicely circles the square with this quote:

 Penny Hembrow, VP of Global Banking at CGI Group, Inc. was an exhibitor at Sibos. When asked about today’s competitive advantage and navigating complexity, she gave a large smile and let out a sigh, “At the end of the day we must never forget that consulting at its best no matter what you do is about problem solving.” One of the biggest challenges we have right now is how to be globally minded yet serve our local communities. We have to toggle all the time between global and local. We might have large global networks, but at the end of the day most transactions are really made in person face to face. Even though it might be difficult, one has to find a way to have one foot planted in the macro and one planted in office in the life of the person you are serving. Hembrow refers to this as “the art of proximity - bringing global relevance at a macro level to the front door of the person you are serving.”

What does this mean? A continued move away from competing on price, and mass production, and towards competing on value and value creation. Which means more and more a world of customization. What does this mean for management? (yes, Virginia, management still matters) That managers are gardeners, who nurture, nourish and feed their ecosystem. Is that being taught at business schools? Probably not. But that is where the followers are, not the leaders.

In my next post I will explore with you what are the necessary design characteristics of a healthy social business ecosystem.

The Glia Social Business EcoSystem Map

Seeding the Glia EcoSystem

Lead Guide and Orchestrator

Hello, my name is Gregory D Esau, your lead guide and orchestrator towards value creation in the Glia Social Business EcoSystem. The 'map' you see above, is our coarse grain macro-view of what our ecosystem will roughly look like. Over time, we will continually refine and define this map, your place in it.  How to make it work for you, how we use it to help create value for yourself and our customer network. How we'll track and visualize different value flows that are essential to a healthy thriving eco-system, eventually giving us an entirely new way to "see" and value our socio-economic life and activities.  Redefining how we create and distribute wealth in business and society. 

The world needs an economic revolution, our collective drive, passion and mission is to lead and set the bar as to how economic life functions and flows. Now, and into the future. 

The Seeds for Success

Thinking of a healthy social business ecosystem, such as the Glia design, as a garden is no mere metaphor. This visualization and the mind set that goes with it is critical to the success of the ecosystem.  Even more so, is how we seed, nurture and grow a social business ecosystem, especially one designed to deliver a range of high value products and services to our customer network. 

There are seven keystone 'species' needed that meshed together ensure the best chance for seeds of our success. It's important to note, that the success or failure of an ecosystem like Glia depends on all the species to understand one another, and pull together to grow the system, and find, develop and create the value and wealth inherent in such a system. 

Investors

Investors can come from within the ranks of the keystone species, indeed, it's vital those that commit to the system are investor/stakeholders. It cannot be stated enough the design of the Glia system depends on the distributed ownership of the system. 

Investment can also come from outside the system. 

These two basic categories can be thought of as vested investors, and passive investors. 

The vested investors, believe passionately in what we're working to build together, and therefore also invest time and expertise in understanding the system so as to best contribute. 

The passive investors will be those that believe in our economic philosophy, but for reasons unique to each, can't contribute currently as builders and developers. 

Knowledge and Intellectual Capital

In the many years I have been pulling together the knowledge for developing the Glia EcoSystem two things have impressed me. How many different knowledge pieces to this puzzle that exit, and the different ways they can be combined to create unique value. Very much like a brain and mind, the more knowledge nodes in the system, the more expansive it's capabilities. Especially when we combine Social and Business, and within the context of increasing scales of customization.

Like every species in the system, Glia cannot thrive without a healthy network of knowledge nodes in it's brain!

As we further our understanding of the system, we will continually break this down into contextually specific types of knowledge, expertise, etc

Builders and Developers

The design for the Glia EcoSystem as it scales will require a robust platform and network that can serve both the social world and business world. Of critical importance to the system and our mission, we as a whole need to own this platform and network. In the lessons learned from the new social network, Ello, there's a strong market for a network that differentiates itself from those that are ad supported or "free" for the right to user data. There's also a strong reaction as to how it's financed, with a lot of healthy skepticism towards venture capital. 

For Glia, we must have ownership over our data, our platforms, and network. 

Attracting the talent to such a model and system as Glia is critical, as we'll need to find that sweet spot between open source and more closed corporate model. 

Talent Market 

All businesses need talent to function. The old industrial model and concepts of "labour" and "management" break down in the needs of business and society in the 21st Century. One of the biggest shifts Glia will create is changing the perception, relationship and functionality of talent pool and the needs of business and society, In very short, a healthy thriving social business ecosystem needs a healthy, thriving talent market. 

Business--Products and Services

A look at the map gives us some idea of the types of businesses we want to attract into our system. Our long-term goal is to provide everything the value-centric consumer needs from cradle to grave. Our philosophy helps further refine what kind of businesses we want to cultivate--we do not compete on price. Competing on price is a losers game. This commoditization of labour and product, where ruthless cutting of costs towards the "lowest price" is the only way to "win" has been devastating for business and society. This principle is the most fundamental reason for the mass transfer of wealth over the last 30-40 years. This competing on price destroys and corrupts the soul of society, and business. The practice will no doubt persist, but not within the Glia EcoSystem.

Our Consumers

Our reason for being. The social in social-business. In speaking to our consumers, how successful Glia can be in being a thriving ecosystem, how well we can reshape our socio-economic future depends on enough consumers who understand the need for shopping on value, and not on price.  

The Orchestrators

These are the master synthesis masters who can "read" the system, connect the dots among business, talent, technology and talent in unique ways to create unique value between business and consumer. 

Context

Evidence continues to mount that the old business models and old organizational models are too static, too inflexible and too tied to an outdated economic business philosophy to keep up with the needs of society, Such trends as artificial intelligent automation, Bitcoin/blockchain technology, the internet of things, 3D printing, institute stagnation, cloud technologies, distorted wealth creation and distribution, social networked media and even the specter of a 'jobless' future are not indicative that these old industrial models are up to the needs of business and society moving forward. 

Seeing our economies as ecosystems, creating the ways to measure the value flows in our economic systems, values beyond the simplistic measures of profit and productivity, of GDP, so we have the visual maps so as all of us can see the health of the system, and understand what makes a healthy system, a healthy society. Where the needs of society and business are in synch, and one feeds the other. Where we all value all of the keystone species in the system, where we all learn how to be gardeners in the system. 

I also need to mention "innovation" at this point. Innovation isn't a strategy, it isn't a department, it even isn't "cross functional teams" (although that is a step in the right direction!). You can't "plan" innovation. It's often "seeing" what others can't see. It's serendipity. 

Glia as a platform, combined with how we'll use visual social graphics to see the network, is designed to foster the environments where innovation can occur. 

Separately, we can likely continue on the path we're on. But when we have all the tools, all the knowledge, all the technology, and most importantly, the need for revolutionary change, why would we choose to stay on the wrong path? 

Using our media, our social media and networks, we can work to bring together all the necessary "species" to populate and grow the Glia Social Business EcoSystem. Not quite "crowdsourced", but what I call "SmartSwarms". Those of us who have a vested interest in growing the system, and enough of an understanding to find what we need, to qualify what we need, the pioneers we need to grow. And to understand we all win in the process. 

Seeding Cities

Unquestionably, this is a big shift. It's important to connect this to community, and the business communities. To give us the best chance of success, seeding Glia in cities is the best way to make this happen. 

As a resident in beautiful Vancouver B.C. Canada, this is one city we'll seed. Which other cities we'll seed will be dependent on finding the Core Nucleus of Orchestrators for any one particular city. 

This also highlights how we can take knowledge and know how that is globally distributed, and apply it in physical communities. The map we see above can both be a global representation of Glia EcoSystem, and can also be overlayed any one particular city.  

What is Next?

As Lead Guide and Chief Orchestrator, it is my job to attract and connect this to people and businesses that fit into the above species categories. Social media and our social networks will be our main conduit for the macro system. Google Plus and it's Hang On Air broadcasting (in conjunction with YouTube) abilities allows an amazing ability to connect this to people worldwide, and my own back yard.

Likewise, for the training and orientation for how to grow and thrive on the Glia System, this capability will be invaluable to giving the pioneers the best possible odds of success, and also for connecting with our customer base. 

The Glia Revolution

Do You Have What it Take To Seed and Lead a Revolution? 

Today marks a new beginning. For Glia. For SmartSwarm Management and Consulting. For you, for me, for society, business and our relationship with our planet.

For too long business, society, our workforce, our creative class, our quest for profits and return on investment, and our planet have been at odds.
For too long our old means and methods of organizing have benefited too few, squandered the passion and abilities of too many, concentrated power too tightly, and is holding back the huge potential we've yet to realize as people and society.

No more!

Glia is a social business network for an eco-system platform that brings together the businesses, the leaders in a new wave of management and leadership systems, the entrepreneurs and creative class, the next generation workforce, the change agents of the investment class, high value consumers, and the citizens of this world that want to drive change, and build the future that is bright for all of us.
A network whose purpose is to ensure the well being of all its members.
A network whose purpose is to reimagine, reinvent, rebuild and revolutionize our way of life.
A network that inspires us to constant improvement, to helping others, to grow, to achieve, to give back. To seed, grow, nurture a sustainable ecosystem.
A network dedicated to value co-creation.
A social business network owned and operated by it's members, for its members.

Make no mistake, this is going to take an enormous effort and commitment from a dedicated group of pioneers that will make up this revolutionary organizing system and culture.
To get there we're going to need to harness and orchestrate a wide range of technology, engenuity, spirit, knowledge and collaboration. And to let go of outdated principles and practices.
We'll need the concerted efforts of builders and renovators, change agents and creatives, know how and do how, and the thousands that can do all the little things that form that foundation upon which all this grows.

For the people with the talent, ability, drive and desire that want to be part of seeding and growing this system, it is the opportunity of a life time. And you are the people I need to find as soon as possible.

Almost Everything You Wanted to Know About Glia* *(But Were Afraid To Ask)

 

Glia
Almost Everything You Wanted To Know*
(*But Were Afraid To Ask)
#Glia   #SmartSwarms   #organizationalOS 

 This won't be a definitive guide, but it will (hopefully) give all of us a much better understanding than we previously had.
This is a Beta Version, and not ready for mass downloading.

Glia The Socio-Economic Revolution
This basic need for radical change has been my driving force since the 1980's. When I first came to the interwebs, that was and is my sole and soul purpose for being there (or is that here?)
Our model and system places foundational philosophical emphasis on value creation as a means to creating wealth, and on wealth distribution. A critical difference is the distribution is done through investing in people, and giving people every opportunity to succeed.
In our language, "wealth" is a mosaic of knowledge and know how, do how, emotional intelligence, service leadership, empowerment and engagement, empathy, caring and giving, critical and creative thinking, learning, networking and financial.

Glia:The Social Business Network
One of the purposes here is to have this massively scaled culture that finally does away with the false dichotomy of the needs of society, and the needs of business. This is, and should be a symbiotic relationship. That so called "capitalism" and capitalists have used the slavish and selfish pursuit of profits over people and planet does not mean in order to create wealth, we have to place one over the other. Somehow 250 years of market enterprises have missed the lessons of Adam Smith's "Moral Sentiments".
While the point isn't a "numbers" game, I think we can have 500 million plus "unique" Glia-ites on our platform in five years, give or take. Why? Because there are at least that many of us out there, and we need our own network, our own home, our own unique way to connect. This number is a mix of business and society (to over simplify it)
Plus!!
This is critical to understand. All of our people will have an ownership in our network. There are a lot of reasons for this (not the least of which is just one way we distribute wealth) but the most important, most crucial, most critical is:
We Want To Own Our Own Data

Glia the Organizational Operating System
The simplest way to explain this, is that most organizations run some form of institutionalized form of organizing principles based on 200 year old models. Mechanization was a core philosophy, with command and control taken from the military. Worse, it still assumes economics that are equally outdated. It's been tweaked to somehow limp (well, rent seeking and other strong arm corruption and protectionism practices mostly) into this century, but it is at best a decrepit system.
Glia is base on living systems (nature, life), and the ever growing body of knowledge and know how that have sprung up around that guiding principle. What stops this vastly superior way of organizing is the power vested in the old systems, which is why many will die on the vine, unable to adapt.
Glia is for the 10% of businesses that are courageous enough to make the switch, and who want to be the true leaders of products and services for a sustainable prosperous society. Being harmonious with planet and nature is literally a natural extension of this 21st century business.

The Glia OS is an exotic blend of philosophy, culture, economics, knowledge, expertise, know how and evolving technologies, along with social platforms, apps, data and data visualization, intermixed with business and community. It's difficult to explain, but not impossible. I am not only getting better at it, but with some additional resources will be able to make fun material to make it pretty simple to understand and employ.
Sooner rather than later I hope to have the Social Network Visualization to be able to "see" what the network 'looks' like, and so everyone can also see the creation and flow of wealth.
It will be designed to encourage transparency, inform us how we need to "invest our wealth" to keep the system healthy (this is the ultimate manifestation of "*What is is, is up to us*", and to greatly discourage the hoarding of wealth.
This data visualization tool, which will in time be available to view on any device, with macro and micro zoom features (think Google Earth), will be the coolest, best aspect of this whole system.
If the system gets gamed, it will be no ones fault except for the collective actions of 500,000,000 (plus) people and businesses. I am betting our future that we won't mess it up.

Applying and Growing Glia

Getting started was always the tricky part, and I finally have the whole thing tweaked enough, along with enough key folks who understand the system well enough, and with enough reputation, to seed and grow it in cities first where we can most immediately begin the co-creation of value.
While it is beyond the scope of this post to explain how we do that, Glia is a system to find the right talent, skills and execution to apply to the context of any business's needs, for now, and more importantly, to guide growth through an enormously tumultuous time. In short, to lead and create the future, not follow it.  It is a towering challenge with exponentially growing rewards.
As we will come to be known for: We Are The Curve. I take that seriously, and so should you.

Our Economic Model
Revenues and remuneration
Um, yes. Some day soon I really really want to have the visuals for this, but we're short of that as yet. We're getting pretty good at explaining it, but it takes about a hour or so.
Why? Because it is a very complex system, with economics, distribution, and technology involved, and the philosophy of value creation. It is designed to be fair and transparent, reward creation and effort, creativity and innovation, and many many etceteras, while at the same time making it exceedingly difficult to game and hack.
Plus, it can only be grown organically, via high value social networks, value creation,  and relationships.

Smart Swarm Management and Consulting
The, um, wetware for applying the Glia OS with businesses, people, organizations and society.
More here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GregoryEsau/posts/V6pS25BABRc

Vancouver, Canada--Our First Pilot City
We'll start here, work some of the start up bugs out, raise operating capital, bring on our stakeholder investors (this will be the best investment you will make. Period), and begin asap to co-create value with clients.
Early on, for a variety of home grown reasons, we will be targeting these sectors:
--Home Construction (it's my field, and man is it rype for radical disruption and innovation!!)
--Restaurants (as someone who has spent tens of thousands of $$$ eating out, I know we can make a big impact here)
--Retail (this has to evolve)
--Entrepreneurialism (for those that truly understand the whole Glia package, this is a no brainer)
--Software, Gaming, Data Visualization, App development (this is rype for co-evolution)
--Advertising, marketing, social media (this will rapidly and spectacularly evolve due to our system, model, and collective purpose)
--small business
--Big Business

Depending on how quickly we can attract top talent and smart co-investment capital, my goal is to then seed 5-12 cities in North America, Australia and Europe in 12 months time.
By year 2020, we want to be "downloaded" by 100 cities worldwide, and by thousands of businesses, creating a dynamic evolving ecosystem of citizens, netizens, conscientious consumers and businesses that provide for the kinds of products and services, and the kinds of PEOPLE that can deliver what will beMass Customization that as holistic self guided system, will be the kind of sustainable socio-economic system the world needs.

This Is Where We Are Going, and I only want to co-create with the dynamic, driven kind of people who want to dedicate themselves to getting us all there.
For the right leaders, right people, the right teams, and the right SmartSwarms of knowledge, know how and do how, this will be the most exhilarating, rewarding, challenging and exciting period of your life.

This all starts: Today

+John Foster , +CJ Dulberger , +Andrew Carpenter , +John Kellden , +Jeff Jockisch , +Jeffrey J Davis , +Jeneva Ray +John Hagel , +John Blossom , +Ray Hiltz

For the growing Glia Core, our purpose is straight forward--use the Glia OS to co-create the future our world needs.
If we don't do it, somebody else will, and they will probably fuck it up. Personally, I like our odds better.

My focus is going to keep seeding the idea in G+ to attract talent and grow interest, more importantly find the right core of people in Vancouver who will be instrumental in taking the social business system to its outmost potential. I refuse to settle for anything less.