11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era

When we emphasize purpose, engage communities, and distribute decision making, we begin to stop talking about these ideas in abstract and actually begin to make our organizations become fast, fluid, and

In psychological language, the key to adaptability and personal growth is resilience. In biology, the equivalent term is plasticity. In financial language, we use the word liquidity to measure how flexible we are, how able to withstand what happens to us. In organizational design, the term is flexibility. And that is what these levers I’ve just cov

Purpose shifts that. A shared purpose says that as long as you are clear on the goal, work with each other to get stuff done.

To be sure, openness means letting go. But it also means making money and having power.

Whereas traditional strategy said you had to define each strategy right, the Social Era says get the big picture right and the rest takes care of itself. But this taps into a more fundamental truth: people crave meaningful work.

Openness can be seen in the world today on societal, organizational, and personal levels. We recently saw this on the world stage during the Arab Spring. We see it in organizations when global brands like TED decide to open up with TEDx. And at the individual level, we see it in social networks and blogging.

Actionable exercise: Rather than making command and control a “bad” thing, discuss what areas need which controls. Then examine how more, if not most, areas and decisions can be distributed (and thus made radically more flexible).

It may have a “shared” purpose (within its walls), but it surely doesn’t have a “social” one.

The difference between the two organizations is this: one is selling sports-related stuff, and if it disappeared tomorrow, few beyond those who lost their paycheck would shed a tear. The other wants to get you to love sports; it has a set of strategic partnerships and ecosystems built around this vision, including programs to introduce city-bound t