When Community Becomes Your Competitive Advantage

4. Clearly defined incentives and rewards.

7. Open, objective, governance and evolution.

5. Carefully crafted accountability.

If a company can transition from simply delivering a product to building a community, it can unlock extraordinary competitive advantages and both create and support a superior business model.

Communities look different than they did 50—even 20—years ago. They are organized around businesses and brands and providing profound opportunities for companies around the world.

Human beings are fundamentally social animals. Behavioral economics and psychological research have taught us that we fundamentally crave a sense of connectedness, belonging, mission, and meaning, particularly when performing our work.

1. A shared purpose and values.

6. Healthy, diverse participation driven by good leadership.

The result of this are very real network effects: as engagement grows, the community gets smarter, faster to respond, more globally available, and generates more value.