Telescope, Compass, Rudder are instruments used by sea going captains
from the ancient times to steer their ships. A telescope gives a good
idea to the captain on what lies ahead. And compass and rudders helped
to steer the ship direction to avert dangers in the path.
More or less same functionalities are used by the today’s business
captains to see what lies ahead and change course directions to avert
catastrophes.
The sea of business is full of wreckages of once business powerhouses
but today floating debris. Reason being the captains did not use these
functionalities.
One such organisation where the captain is constantly using the ‘futurescope’ is Facebook. Zuckerberg is constantly scanning the environment to understand what can be a potential threat to his business in future. A testimony to his vision is the acquiring of WhatsApp. This was one
potential business that could have killed Facebook like its predecessors
Orkut etc.
Yesterday it was widely publicised Zuckerberg’s New Year resolution to read more books. In his own words as below..
“I’ve found reading books very intellectually fulfilling,”, sharing
the challenge he has set for himself for 2015. “Books allow you to fully
explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media
today.
And the post also mentioned the books that Zuckerberg chose to read…and on special mention was ‘The End of Power’.
First let us see why is this resolution to read more by Zuckerberg?
Big businesses first build up successful products fulfilling basic wants or luxury needs…
The challenge is when the products start getting into habits in the customers. Examples are the negative comments about the burger and the fizzy
drink companies. The recent promotional and endorsement visit of one CEO
to an elected politician became an unintended publicity catastrophe,
when the politician asked to reduce the sugar content in the company
drinks.
Unfortunately these ‘opinion trends’ in the consumer ecosystem are
not easily predictable. There is no analysis software or algorithms that
can help here. Only the CEO’s “FUTURESCOPE” can help.
And in many cases even the respectable companies are reactive than proactive…
They start talking about the low calorie versions, healthy foods and
healthy eating habits, sponsoring related talk shows, marathons etc….
However, a reactive strategy is always very expensive and may not give the intended results.
Here is where Zuckerberg is really admirable…
World over there is a lot of clamour happening on the way the social
media is impacting the personal relationships and some habits. Reading books is one habit which is very seriously going to be impacted with the explosion of the social media hangouts…
The most read author in recent times in India, Chetan Bhagat said
that he thinks the social media as his main challenge and not other
authors. If this is the case of the successful popcorn fiction writer
then what is the case of others?
Zuckerberg realises this. World over book distribution and brick and
mortar stores are blaming the e-book sellers for the reduction in
business. But the fact is books are competing with the social media for
the free time of the readers and the former is losing the fight to
later.
Zuckerberg understands this and the reason for the sudden interest of
him in reading the books. A very proactive tactics to diffuse a
potential future negative public opinion.
And why the chosen book End of Power?
In Zuckerbergs own words “It’s a book that explores how the world is
shifting to give individual people more power that was traditionally
only held by large governments, militaries and other organizations,”
And who is giving the individuals this power? No one else than the
social media. Therefore, the Facebook CEO tries to endorse the
importance of his company by projecting it as a tool of common man’s
power.
Well done Zuckerberg …well done…
We like to hear you at indussprouts@gmail.com
It is true that social media is consuming a big piece of scarce free time pie of today human being but is does not reward them with knowledge gain and creative thinking reason being it gives shallow level of information in bits and pieces. Books provide more insight, understanding and initiate creative thinking process in minds as have comprehensive package of information and deep knowledge but only for those who are serious in learning and willing to sacrifice time to do so. Can be concluded that due to time limitation and easy access align with faster life style in evolution, social media will gain more and more popularity and will consume more free time of present and future generations. What is required is to revisit the design of social media platform to take on boards the thank tanks, research organizations and academia in a way that knowledge creation process, flow and intensity of information can be aligned seamlessly in a way that every one can take the benefit of social media according to his level of needs, interest and understanding.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that social media is consuming a big piece of scarce free time pie of today human being but is does not reward them with knowledge gain and creative thinking reason being it gives shallow level of information in bits and pieces. Books provide more insight, understanding and initiate creative thinking process in minds as have comprehensive package of information and deep knowledge but only for those who are serious in learning and willing to sacrifice time to do so. Can be concluded that due to time limitation and easy access align with faster life style in evolution, social media will gain more and more popularity and will consume more free time of present and future generations. What is required is to revisit the design of social media platform to take on boards the thank tanks, research organizations and academia in a way that knowledge creation process, flow and intensity of information can be aligned seamlessly in a way that every one can take the benefit of social media according to his level of needs, interest and understanding.
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