The future really does belong to microbusiness

Posted on | January 15, 2009 | 1 Comment

Scary new year? Think again. 2009 may look bleak – but this year, those with the purpose, courage, and vision to get seriously radical will have the opportunity to reconceive and reinvent the global economy.

This year, leaders of all kinds face a single, critical challenge: building 21st century organizations that yield new sources of advantage, powered by new rules of management.

Here’s why – and how to get started.

Thus begins one of the most brilliant, intriguing and gratifying blog posts I’ve read in a very long time. It was written by Umair Haque, Director of the Havas Media Lab, and published in his Harvard Business Online Discussion Leaders blog.

I just came across this blog (via a tweet, no less) and I’m excited about this guy. He is clearly a very smart human and he provokes thought. I like having my thoughts provoked.

Wait a minute, Dawn, what did you say? “Gratifying”?

Well, yeah. Watch this.

The basic premise of the post in question is that the economy is currently undergoing massive, fundamental, structural changes.

Because of that, it would behoove everybody to stop wasting time, money and neurons trying to resurrect 20th century business model corpses. The folks who will make it through the current economic mess — the ultimate in “creative destruction” — are those who understand that it ain’t your grandpa’s economy anymore.

(Let me know if any of this is starting to sound familiar.)

Haque is even kind enough to provide a set of questions to ask yourself, in order to help us all figure out what the new rules of new business in the new century will look like. I won’t repeat those four questions here but I’ll give you a few snippets of his answers.

… companies who create perceived value are significantly less profitable and more vulnerable than companies who are rethinking marketing to create real value. (emphasis mine)

… companies who can rescale production at the micro-level are disproportionately more profitable and powerful.

steeply diminishing returns to orthodox strategy – because, like actual war, it destroys tomorrow for today. The 21st century demands a rethink of what’s “strategic” – versus what’s merely selfish.

higher-order innovation – business model, strategic, and management innovation – is associated with significantly more powerful and durable value creation.

Are you recognizing any of this stuff yet?

Yes, I admit that I love it when very smart people who watch the economy from an entirely different angle end up seeing the same things that I’ve been seeing (and writing about) for the past five years.

So, now I know that there is yet another person out there who can see (without quite putting it this way) that the future is going to belong to microbusinesses — and to larger companies that can figure out how to act like microbusinesses.

This should be interesting.

And, if the occasional ‘I told you so’ is obnoxious, I’m willing to be occasionally obnoxious.

Comments