The New Power Model

In the ‘Old days’, and by that, I mean five years ago, we did things a bit differently. You had a boss, and your boss had a boss and so on and so forth. It was very pyramidal in shape, and typically this model was replicated in many of the other ways of thinking in the organization. Such as the way we innovate, the way we think, the way we interact with clients. The way we build products. Linear. One step followed by the next, “slowly and surely” was the tried and tested way.

Today however, business moves fast. And we need to keep up, or drown in the tsunami that is the newest generation of kids. And yet, we still would like to be able to relate to our bread and butter ‘veteran’ customers.  In today’s world it’s not good enough to stay in your old ways. Instead, as the saying goes, you’ve got to move with times.

So how do we do that?

Well, if we take a moment to look at the old way of doing things, it consisted of these modalities of thinking:

  • Currency
  • Power held by the few
  • Downloads
  • Top down commands
  • Leader-driven
  • Closed systems

But today, it’s almost upside down to the above.  It’s about…

  • Being current
  • Made by the many
  • Uploads
  • Sharing
  • Peer-driven
  • Open systems

Check out the below infographic that shows you the New Power values paradigm.

 

 

These are the values that today’s generation expect out of the products and services that they interact with. They don’t have time for slow things. Things that are overly complicated that take up their precious time. It has to be fast. They need to be working collaboratively, not in a silo. It has to be open to the group, yet offer a level of privacy that is becoming more scarce by the day. Because they know instinctively that there is strength in numbers.

With the digital age, today’s generation understand the value of transparency because it’s all too easy to try and hide behind the big oak table in the corner office, cut off from the people. People want to get their hands dirty doing things by and for themselves. It makes them feel independent. But they understand the power of an affiliative system that can deliver value in minor increments. Wealth can be generated slowly over time over vastly large global markets vs narrowly targeted perhaps larger margin models that can carry greater risk.

Last but not least, don’t forget, what’s in today, may just as quickly shift to something else tomorrow.  And if you’re not willing to adapt and change you may just be left behind. Finicky is part of the game that has to be taken seriously. These are the New Power model values. Learn them. Live them. And prosper.

Partly adapted from Harvard Business Review