A revolution (from the Latin revolutio, "a turnaround") is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time. The Social Era revolution will not be carried out with riots or warfare; rather it represents a philosophical shift that is changing people's beliefs about power and organizational structures.
The Social Era revolution is shifting how and why people work, how markets behave and organizations serve common purposes. People are not certain how to handle this except to compare it with the context of the post-industrial economies. The Social Era economy is already emerging and being defined on the fringes of change. The current economy is undergoing radical change and few understand the meaning of the current changes and what the economy will look like on the other side of change. The dynamics of past economies have changed and subsequently we are experiencing the flaws of old economic models built on the dynamics of markets past.
The flaw in market economics will be reversed in the Social Era. Technological change will continue to fuel changes in how value is created and consumed. When value creation and consumption is redefined, everything that supplies, distributes and exchanges value will be redefined. Consider some of the current market dynamics and evolving developments that point to the Social Era Revolution:
- Work is being redefined: 30% -50% of our current economy is based on freelance work. More Americans are working for themselves than ever before.
- Everyone is gaining visibility to supply and demand, meaning that employers, employees and free lancers will have equal information necessary to accomplish a collective objective.
- The University System will be challenged - the relevance of the college degree is being questioned in an economy that favors unique combinations of knowledge assets and collaboration skills rather than everyone having the same "degree".
- The inventory of knowledge and smart search engine systems will reward people for doing what they are most passionate about. Passion follows purpose in the Social Era.
- The dominant strategy for all organizations in The Social Era is for participants to pursue what they are naturally good at and passionate for - as long as there is a market for it. There is a market for everything and anything.
- Social priorities will impact what gets invented; Global Warming, Alternative Energy, Sustainable environments will have net positive business cases.
- Work has become networked-based. People amass connections through social networks and then leverage their network for new opportunities, advice, and expertise.
This is not easy to see or predict because the dynamics are not being led by anyone individual or organizarion. The revolution will accelerate and appear before your eyes. You'll know it when you see it. Stay tuned, it will all happen naturally.