Buzzword alert: I may use some nauseating words and phrases below. But this entry is inspired by an article in this month’s Wired about the Design Economy. While I understand the importance of design to the next stage of business – prototyping, form AND function, left brain AND right brain -- I think it captures too narrow an aspect. So I got to thinking about an alternative. And so I present to you my entry into the contest that no one is running, on what to call this next age of business we are entering. I present to you the hooked-up economy.
First, some historical background. Our country’s first age was an agrarian one. Commerce meant growing things, and the world was divided into landowners and field workers. Access to land was the differentiator. The cotton gin and the steam engine helped usher in our second age, the industrial revolution. Commerce meant making things, and the world was divided into management and labor. Access to capital was the differentiator. ENIAC and the Internet brought in our third age, the information economy. Commerce went from bits to bytes, and the world was divided into the techno-savvy and the techno-illiterate. Access to information and technology were the differentiators.
I would like to argue that we are now entering a fourth age, which I am trying to find a clever name for but for now will refer to as the hooked-up era. Please bear with the crassness of the terminology; I am aware that “hooking up” can be taken to mean having casual sex, and while I don’t condone such a lifestyle on a social plane, I do intend to borrow some of that connotation on a business plane. Let me unpack this choice of words a little bit. The hooked-up economy is one in which relationships are central, but not necessarily permanent. It is peer-to-peer and informal and fluid. And (oh God, don’t visualize about this for too long) it’s not necessarily monogamous and in fact is quite often serially monogamous and/or simultaneously polygamous.
What are some of the symptoms of the hooked-up economy? Organizations, from police departments to start-up ventures, are forgoing traditional hierarchies and chains of command for decentralized, customer- and results-focused structures. Doing everything in-house is giving way to outsourcing, to the point that some entities do nothing but manage their partnerships and manage their brand. Work is now project-oriented, with teams forming, getting the job done, and then disbanding to move onto the next project. And today’s youth are increasingly linked up with their nearby friends and with their faraway peers, feeding from a multicultural buffet of influences.
What are some of the causes of the hooked-up economy? Increased complexity, from information overload to global terrorism, is smashing old ways of thinking and demanding a more diffuse view of the world and of solutions. Decreased transaction costs thanks to the Internet and a shrinking world mean that traditional hierarchies and “might over right” strategies simply cannot survive. And, on a related note, barriers are tumbling, so if trade is free and mp3’s are flying all over the place you know there are going to be more hook-ups.
What are some of the ramifications of the hooked-up economy? If social justice in the agrarian age was about getting people land, and capital in the industrial age and access in the information age, then in the hooked up economy, it will mean helping people not as connected to get more connected. Building social capital will be as vital to success as massing land or capital or intellectual property; and like these hard assets, while quantity is important quality is more important. And if relationships are long-lasting but the “hook-up” is temporary, creating mutually beneficial situations will be the key to building the kind of trust that makes for true synergy.
So there you have it: the hooked-up economy. I believe we are moving inexorably in this direction. The symptoms are becoming more pronounced, the causes more evident, and the ramifications more important. This movement has ramifications for how we work, how we run our organizations, how we seek social justice, and how we train the next generation.
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