We live in a digital and networked age. Innovation cycles are shorter and constant disruption is a permanent feature of everyday life. Automation, artificial intelligence and trips to Mars appear to be imminent. It is a time of great opportunities, but also enormous challenges.
There is a need for better understanding of these opportunities and challenges in this new world. It involves asking how technological change impacts on how we live, work and learn. This is the reason why I, together with Albert Dauti and Mark Fenwick, have launched a new platform we refer to as Governance Tomorrow.
Governance Tomorrow focuses, in particular, on various aspects of the new economy and how everyone – government, large corporations, startups and employees – is obliged to re-examine all aspects of what they are doing. The aim? To develop strategies that enable all stakeholders in the new economy to make better choices. Five aspects of the new economy are at the core of this project:
1. Understanding the challenges of new technology: Rapid technological change creates significant challenges for society. In this new world, speed is everything. Particularly important for business is the design challenge created by new technology – imagining products that integrate current or near future technologies to offer a new experience to consumers.
The future of any industry confronting profound technological change will not only be determined by developments in the technology, but rather by the capacity of a firm to imagine, coordinate and then assemble the products or services of the future.
2. Understanding the implications for established companies: Large, established companies have struggled to adapt to the new economy. All firms must now engage with social media, big data and the internet of things. Soon, all firms will have to engage with robotics, automation and artificial intelligence. In this respect, all firms have become technology firms.
Yet, a profit-driven culture means that large firms often lack the resources to react effectively. Last-century companies rely heavily on hierarchical, formalistic and closed structures. The inevitable result? Stagnant performance means that incumbent players are at risk of becoming corporate dinosaurs – lumbering giants that face extinction.
3. Understanding the “firm of the future”: Fast-growth technology companies with few assets and even fewer employees are central to the new economy – think Uber or AirBnB. These 21st century companies have used technology, software and algorithms to develop new business models and challenge incumbents.
Significantly, such firms have also adopted novel governance structures. They have embraced mission-driven, flat and inclusive corporate cultures. Value and wealth are created through connections and networks, instead of the management of workers and physical assets. The result is that the firm of the future transforms itself into an expansive ecosystem. This ecosystem is characterised by fluid boundaries, dynamic forms of partnership and open communication with all stakeholders.
4. Understanding the new meaning of work: The millennial generation – those born after 1982 – reached adulthood in a networked world. A distinctive feature of this generation is the different expectations and demands of work and a career. For millennials, work needs to offer a personally fulfilling experience. Work is central to the creation of a unique identity or personal brand. In the absence of such a meaningful experience, millennials will change jobs in pursuit of a job that does please them.
5. Understanding the implications for government: Government – local, national and international – has struggled to adapt to the challenges of the new economy. Rapid technological change makes it difficult to agree on a regulatory framework. Regulations often prohibit, or otherwise limit, commercial exploitation of new technology. As disruptive technologies arrive at a faster pace, debates around such regulatory constraints become even more pressing. Also, efforts to build startup ecosystems that aim to scale new businesses into global brands have not been as successful as policy makers hoped.
The overarching goal of Governance Tomorrow is to understand what kind of environment or organisation maximises opportunities for business success and personal happiness in this new world of constant disruptive innovation. Governance Tomorrow aims to identify the building blocks that can both increase the productivity of an organisation and people’s creativity and fulfillment.
This is an edited version of article first published on LinkedIn