July 2, 2014
This may be considered sacrilege in my business, but I am stating that within the next few years, you will not need experts like me.
Of course, we’ll still be around. But think of it this way – rock music is still here, but in the current culture it does not have anywhere near the impact of hip hop and electronic music. No matter how many Grammys the Black Keys win, they are not having the same influence as Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake.
We can learn a lot from hip hop. It’s a collaborative format. Artists routinely participate in each other’s songs. And both hip hop and electronic music have democratized the art. You no longer need a decade of experience in a musical instrument, or even a production studio. You just need a Mac and a microphone.
Business is slow to follow, but it will. Companies that rely on experts, consultants, and best practices will find their people more and more disengaged because they are not authoring the story. I’m not saying these books and speakers are not valuable. But if people don’t take it and hack it, then any pre-fabricated solution will not work.
What is emerging is a new range of practices and technologies that allow for the wisdom of the people and the organization to be the guiding light, instead of worshipping at the foot of the next bestseller.
This post is simply a prelude. I will be writing more about these technologies and leaders who are creating the frameworks for organizations to tap into their real power.