Apple

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead’s famous phrase has become a standard bearer for well meaning citizens bent on creating solutions to the problems of the world. However, in the Industrial Age these agents of change were constrained in their ability to gain rapid distribution of their solutions, so real change took years or even generations.

It is that time frame which informs a belief, as described in this NY Times article, that government and institution led macro innovation is the key to overcoming the myriad challenges our world faces. Industrial logic would suggest that trillion dollar problems, must have trillion dollar solutions and trillion dollar solutions come from big investments in big ideas. The first issue with this industrial logic is that we have no idea what the big idea is, only what the big problem is. The second issue is that big problem’s are agglomerations of little problems, however institutions can only focus their marketing and strategy on the BIG problem. That focus undermines the problem solving.

Which leads me to Chris Anderson’s piece on the era of the conglomerate passing and in its wake thousands of small, entrepreneurial companies innovating to solve problems that the large companies cannot. Chris’ insight is that large companies are struggling to understand how a former competitive advantage, economy of scale, had been turned on its head to become a disadvantage. Where scale was once a strength, now it is a shackle linked by quarterly earnings, risk aversion and zero sum management that prevents organizations from solving the small problems, that reveal big solutions.  While there is no doubt that big business is facing challenging conditions to execute their plans, it is by no means impossible to execute successfully within this new paradigm, just look at Google, Apple, Amazon or even P&G, who are executing successfully in the networked economy by transitioning their operating, forecasting and communications units to allow for micro-innovation within their organizations.

Using network logic we understand that a big problem is simply an interconnected series of small problems, with solutions that interconnect to reveal solutions to large problems. The big leap organizations must make is to stop talking and start doing. This transition in thinking from leverage to community is a function of the Great Unwinding of our economy. The Great Unwinding is our economy peeling back the layers of excess and facade, to reveal the foundational truths of our businesses and ourselves. The outcome of this financial and psychic deleveraging is a profitable and fulfilling business and consumer renaissance. This renaissance is driven by a network economy that encourages experimentation, accepts failure and connects the solutions that allow us to think small, to solve big.

Nat Torkington writes that “Scaling is not innovating”, innovation happens on the edge where scale doesn’t matter and uses the multiplier effect of networked innovation to scale at the appropriate time. It’s time for us as executives, marketers and customers to acknowledge this dawning reality and to harness our entrepreneurial spirit to solve problems as a community.

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