Comments

Please note that the traditional factors of production are land, labor, and raw materials (with sometimes a fourth factor added, either capital assets or leadership), but Darci is referring to production in an Intangible Economy that reflects the new world of work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factors_of_production

Posted by cathy mosca at October 5, 2006 11:39 AM

Your post couldn't have come at a better time for me. This feels like a welcome paradigm shift!

Thanks

Posted by Robert Smith at October 5, 2006 11:43 AM

99% of my time in business school was spent reviewing cases, best practices and examples of leadership - from the past. Wouldn't it be wonderful if students in institutions of higher learning were given current problems to solve using fresh ideas, new perspectives, creativity and innovation rather than old textbook models (no offense to Porter's Five Forces, et al)? Future leaders would be less inclined to be followers.

Posted by jocelyn at October 5, 2006 11:55 AM

I believe you may want to add a fourth element, Intelectual Property Rights. Ideas are the constant within the four I's and people should realize it is they who have the ideas. Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights provide the people with great protection for their ideas.

This "new world" provides people with opportunities that make our history pale in terms of value generated.

Posted by Paul Cox at October 5, 2006 12:44 PM

Darci: I disagree with your proposal that, "If we learn from those before us ... are we not, in fact, followers."

No. If "learning" means copying or following something in rote fashion, then it is not leadership by mentor or student. Learning from those before us, I contend, means learning about their mistakes as well as their successes; it means learning how to think about situations and apply appropriate solutions; it means learning to to challenge your own preconceptions and ideas; it means learning to delegate to others who may be more suited to resolving a particular issue; it means taking advice; it means staying up to date with technology and ideas; etc.

One of the problems we seem to have today is that so many people think everything can be boiled down to simple a + b = c formulae. Maybe this is part of the responsibility issue on this blog, too: I did this + that, therefore I'm not culpable.

Leaders might have to present their plans and ideas in simple terms, but they are aware that the thinking behind them is anything but simplistic.

Posted by MarkJF at October 5, 2006 1:18 PM

Good leadership will be inspired by past examples but not constrained by these.

Posted by Renato at October 5, 2006 1:31 PM

This is a truly great insight and answers so many questions that leaders in the new world are struggling to answer.

Some of the questions I can think of:

1. I have a great online network with x,000 members. Why isn't anyone posting?

2. I have a great client base with x0 clients. Why isn't anyone coming back?

3. I have a great product that I have personally sold to x00 people (not all of them friends). Why aren't they selling down the line so I can make residual income?

Changing the focus to see what followers are doing rather than what leaders did is wonderful insight indeed.

Scurrying off to check the last x00 messages in my online networks,

Deepak

Posted by Deepak at October 5, 2006 3:46 PM

Darci

The "intangible economy" has been fully recognised, spoken about, and written about since the mid 1980s.

The big differences in 2006 is that a "still young but maturing" Internet that has brought dramatic changes to minds, mindsets, ways of thinking, notions of work, boundaries of workplaces, organisational form and function, etc.

In 2006 we have many good working examples of the "intangible economy" not least of them is what many commentators now refer to as "the google economy".

The challenges of leadership within this type of "economy" are surely different to those of the past. This is a "networked economy" where everyone gains from being involved. Assets are being redefined. Tangilbe assets are still highly valued (eg the US is about to see new record house prices of well over $US100 million) but so too are intangibles.

There are too many facets of this 'wonderful new world of work and life' to comment on here - not that anyone should pretend to know a whole lot about most of these evolving entities.

Thanks for raising this topic: it is food for thought for all of us who are interested in the new world of work, the emerging new world order, the potential for huge wealth transfers and redistributions, the expected rise of some new economic powerhouses, the evolving changes to accepted definitions of Intellectual Property, etc.

Cheers
Richard.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at October 5, 2006 4:17 PM

I agree, Mark, that the past teaches us lessons from which we can learn and I could've softened the blow of my accusation having mentioned that in my original blog, but chose not to for the sake of argument. What I have come to realize, however, is that we don't ask enough "whys" and it seems to me this might be the residual effects of old command and control-style leadership which discourages employees to question and "just do". I have been teaching a leadership course recently during which I draw attention to the many things "we" do as leaders and then I ask them "why?". To which they most often reply "I don't know, that's just the way its always been done" And, then, they most often laugh b/c they realize how ludicrous that sounds. I encourage my participants to get in touch with the 2-year old inside of them...remember when you always asked "why?"

I just received "The Seven-Day Weekend" by Ricardo Semler in the mail this afternoon (gotta love Amazon)and discovered we have something in common. On the inside front cover it says, "Ricardo Semler's favorite question is "Why?" Why do people routinely bring work home on the weekends but never go to the movies on a Monday afternoon? Why do we need to sit at the same desk every day?...Why are we interviewed by our bosses but never get to interview someone who wants to be our boss?"

My favorite question..."why can't I eat ice cream for breakfast?" (I do).

Posted by Darci at October 5, 2006 4:54 PM

Darci - on the, "Why do people routinely bring work home on the weekends..." bit, here's another thought. (I wish I could remember who said it!) Not many people have been quoted as saying on their deathbeds, "You know, I wish I'd spent more time at the office."

Posted by MarkJF at October 5, 2006 5:23 PM

Right with you on this one Tom. Management has shown itself to be hopeless at dealing with intangibles at all levels. The desire to rationalise and measure is a joke in comparison what happens in reality - too many initiatives designed to drive the numbers rather than the reality.

Of course the tangible is important (budgets etc) but if all you see is the cost how can you explore the benefits

Posted by PaulH at October 6, 2006 2:26 AM

Richard – you make excellent points as always about the new economy.…. I am with you on this. Here’s a practical and measurable example you may be interested in. Three of us have just written and published a book. We are from 3 different countries and 2 continents; we are separated by thousands of miles, 3 time zone and we have not yet actually met. Everything has been done through virtual communication in less than 9 months from the birth of the idea to the book being in customer’s hands. I would say the ‘intangible’ world is well established. We are keen to promote our learning through an international workshop about ‘virtual relationship building’ based on trust and achieving practical outcomes. I’m happy to talk virtually (or for real of course) with anyone interested.

Posted by Trevor Gay at October 7, 2006 4:11 PM

Richard – you make excellent points as always about the new economy.…. I am with you on this. Here’s a practical and measurable example you may be interested in. Three of us have just written and published a book. We are from 3 different countries and 2 continents; we are separated by thousands of miles, 3 time zone and we have not yet actually met. Everything has been done through virtual communication in less than 9 months from the birth of the idea to the book being in customer’s hands. I would say the ‘intangible’ world is well established. We are keen to promote our learning through an international workshop about ‘virtual relationship building’ based on trust and achieving practical outcomes. I’m happy to talk virtually (or for real of course) with anyone interested.

Posted by Trevor Gay at October 8, 2006 3:19 AM

Trevor - virtual workspaces and the intense type of collaboration that goes with them is one of the true drivers of our emerging economy. It sounds like you and your colleagues are well and truly "early adopters" in this new world of work. I too have done some work in "virtual communities" at various client sites over the past ten years - it is a marvellous concept and there is a real WOW factor about it all now that the technologies are rapidly catching up to some of the most "way out" thinking about this way of being and working in the world. Good luck with your workshop and your learnings on these new ways to think, work, and form communities.

Cheers
Richard.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at October 8, 2006 5:49 AM

Richard - Thanks again. Another specific project I am currently working on with 4 colleagues in America and UK is a concept called 'The New Local.' In this we are attempting put forward the concept of re-defining what is meant in 2006 by the word ‘local.’ Geography has always determined ‘locality’ but we believe now that 'communities of common interest' can also be called local. This is a fascinating area. Again the four of us writing this paper have never met and have drawn out all the issues we need to input to the paper through virtual communication either by e-mail or Blog. I see all this as an opportunity and cannot really understand why anyone might see it as a threat. The new technology if used widely is a wonderful advancement for all.

Take care
Trevor

Posted by Trevor Gay at October 8, 2006 3:55 PM

Trevor - your comments are fascinating. The challenge is taking what you've learned as a self-employed entreprenuer and applying it to a large corporation. It makes sense that you have found a way to work virtually across geographical boundaries by leveraging technology. I, too, work from home, so this is very much a part of my world. How does this relate to the corporate environment? How would you relate what you know now about collaboration and working virtually to the healthcare environment in which you once worked? What does it mean to the "corporate" employee/manager?

Posted by Darci at October 9, 2006 9:09 AM

Darci – thank you and the answer to your excellent question merits a book to answer. I had 35 years in the ‘corporate’ world in healthcare and to me it is just a ‘mindset’ thing. Many people I know and have known who work in large corporations have just as much enthusiasm and excitement about using modern technology as anyone outside. Sadly it is often the culture (for that read ‘leaders’) of those corporations that simply do not encourage – indeed in my opinion they restrict - the natural risk taking, playfulness and experimentation that we just have to try in order to eat in self employment. This is a wonderful discussion that I would be happy to widen but in the interest of brevity these are my initial observations.

Posted by Trevor Gay at October 9, 2006 9:33 AM

Darci - I like your style of writing and your commentary. Keep up the good work...I worked for a legendary company in the IT world which was so much fun and we all wore so many hats and went to new classes every week ... and worked our hearts out (15 - 18 hour days were no exception) I used to ask my team to meet in the lobby of the building for lunch and take them all to the 12:00 noon movies. I knew we were all going to be there until late evening and we needed that kind of break - it always brought us back refreshed and ready to tackle the problems. - I hope to hear more from you and your perceptions as life goes along.

Posted by s. guglielmi at October 9, 2006 12:18 PM