The Information Age is over. We are now entering what I characterize as the “Connected Age.” The information age began with the widespread use of generally available computing power and flourished with the explosion of the internet. Information became the most powerful commodity and companies depended on having more timely and complete information to compete. In the Information Age Peter Drucker taught us how to manage “knowledge workers”. Industries became “hyper-competitive” with the dot-com boom, bust, and subsequent rise of innovative startups that are disrupting whole industries.
It became apparent to me that the Information Age was coming to a close with the recent congressional hearings with Mark Zuckerberg. Mr. Zuckerberg did what he needed to do. He admitted the mistake and took full responsibility for allowing Cambridge Analytics to harvest data on 87 million Facebook users to profile voters in the last presidential election. The result was largely positive and Facebook’s stock recovered significantly from the huge loss incurred when the news first broke. The more important result of the latest fall from grace of Facebook is the public realization that it wasn’t just in the altruistic business of helping people around the world connect socially and share cat videos. It’s in business to make money and the way it does that is to mine information about all the people that use it and use that information to sell advertising and, yes, sell that information. Information is the product that companies like Facebook and Google are selling. The curtain has fallen and their true mission is exposed. The amazing thing is that even though we knew that, deep down, all along, we were lulled into the allure of their product image. Users of Yelp, Waze, Fandango, Facebook and Google and hundreds of other apps should no longer be surprised that nothing they do online is private and just between them and their browser, cellphone, or their online friends. Now the average, trusting, cellphone addicted person on the street has been exposed to the cold, hard reality of the Information Age. Nor should those companies feel completely beyond contempt when they monetize the information they collect. Facebook and many of its users matured a little last week.
So, what happens now? Probably very little in the habits of social data users, but I think this signals a tectonic shift in the free market that will usher in the next age of competition. That might seem a radical prediction but hear me out. The consumers of services like Facebook, LinkedIn and Google have begun a cultural shift that will result in the acceptance of information as a shared currency and we will move on. As consumers of those online networks, we will accept the invasion of our private lives in exchange for the convenience and value it brings us. That shift will initiate the next major technical revolution in the free market that has been waiting in the wings for the right time to flourish in the consumer market. If we can accept that invasion of our privacy and move on with our lives, what is the next line in the sand?
The next thing that consumers will get comfortable with is letting intelligent, connected products run their lives. The technologies that will enable this new shift are all on the verge of becoming viable in the marketplace. You know what they are… drones, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, robotics, bio-embedded systems, and artificial intelligence. These technologies will become fully integrated and connected in the products we purchase in next 20 years. They will create a whole new age of connected, situationally aware, autonomous products and services.
What does this mean to the way we manage companies and lead our employees? I predict the Connected Age will usher in the rise of the “innovative worker” and the challenge of “disruptive-competition.” Technology will be a competitive advantage for every industry. It will drive customer interaction and connect companies and their products to the world in ways we haven’t even dreamt of yet. I believe it will be more important than ever for companies to have organizational structures and leadership that can encourage innovation and continuously develop game changing new products and services that utilize the technologies that will dominate the Connected Age. Leadership will need to create systems that reward innovation and actively invest in and develop high-potential ideas. Companies need to be able to harness the variability of the development process and change as quickly as their competitive environment. The hierarchical management structures will need to flatten and accept networks of high-performing, self-managed and collaborative teams. New generations of leaders will need to let go of their corner offices and change the way they engage with those teams. HR departments will need to change how they rate and reward innovative workers and their teams.
How is your company getting ready for the Connected Age?
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