Acknowledging demands for individual empowerment and the importance of including consumers as a vital element of corporate innovation and growth — not merely as consumers, but also as collaborators and advocates — has become the conversation of our time. And as the lines between ‘real life’ and ‘work life’ continue to blur, demands for greater values alignment are just the beginning. With practitioners across every major industry well outside of their comfort zones, what has become crystal clear is institutional constructs for engagement and innovation are failing.
In order to authentically take advantage of the strategic and tactical opportunities that present in the shift of public expectations and identity, the culture of organisations must transform. This transformation calls for nothing less than total realignment towards an operating model that is co-designed at its core, and that champions collective benefit and co-ownership. It demands a new toolset and techniques that bear closer resemblance to those of grassroots movements and social activism, as opposed to the all too familiar lacklustre branded community campaigns and corporate social responsibility programs of the institutional status quo.
Organisations that embrace the Emergent paradigm will find new opportunities for the attainment, maintenance and growth of their power. As ‘new power’ companies such as Kickstarter, Etsy and Uber leverage grassroots mechanisms to consolidate their power and to grow, they are meeting public demand for individualisation and communication. This enables these sorts of companies to consolidate a lot of power and make a lot of money — all while mobilising a critical mass of advocates and supporters.
The following chapters look at why this transfer of power is occurring, and why old approaches such as vacuous corporate responsibility programs no longer hold up. I also look at what conscious leadership actually means, and why it is so important.