Monday, 10th November, 2008 at 13:34
short anecdote Frans van der Reep - professor INholland University
Towards Survival of the most Cooperative…
One of the curious and appealing business trends for me is that the web 2.0 and corporate social media foster ‘togetherness’ in the business arena and almost force us to really cooperate instead of struggle. Why? The Internet induces market price cuts up to 40% due to more market transparency. Good examples how this works are airline tickets and dinky toys. Because of this price fall companies cannot afford inproductive overhead and internal politics anymore. This type of non value adding activities would put them out of business at once in the digital world! So, the game is no longer about survival of the fittest but about survival of the most cooperative. The game is not about ‘taking’ and ‘having’. It is about ’sharing’ and perhaps even ‘giving’!! It’s not about reciprocity. It’s about trust. Not only about being reactive and reacting. Also about creating. I feel this is the reason that topics like personal leadership (Covey!) and having a spiritual life are on the business agenda again. Spirituality as a pre-condition for economic development and earning power….the holy books almost entering the board rooms. Who would have thought that 15 years ago… Fascinating!!!
Frans van der Reep