I am Change, You are Irrelevant
Thursday: July 26, 2007 7:48 AM
Last month, I posted a quote from Eric Shinseki “"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less" which sums up the basic message of Enterprise 2.0. The one thing I forgot to do is to introduce myself; I am change.
I am change. I work for you, with you, and along side of you. I am your partner and competitor. I am an opportunity and a threat. I am a Lion and you are the Gazelle. I will not come at you straight ahead and announce my arrival with an executive memo. I will leap over you or go around you. If you stand in my way, I will run over you. I will replace you either through advanced technology, outsource you with more productive resources, or eliminate your job when I destroy your business model.
I am change. While you cut my coffee, eliminate my training, and reduce travel in the name of cost transformations, I am buying iPhones, reading Business 2.0 and seeing the world on my own dime. I can read Peter Drucker and know 99% that you learned during the 1980’s. While you attempt to polish the last grain of efficiency from Enterprise 1.0, I have moved to Enterprise 2.0. You stand in fear of 2.0 while I and millions of people like me are embracing it. I can destroy your business by simply posting a bad experience on a weblog. At the same time, I can make your business by buying into your brand and helping define the experience.
I am change. While you try to make your organization more efficient, I will replace you. You love control and hierarchal structures which focus communication from the top down. I will communicate from the ground up. You have 5 direct reports that are bound to listen to you. I have millions of people that will listen to me and what I have to say. You focus on the physical and I focus on the meta-physical. I am agile, flexible, and I can emerge and disappear in a matter of seconds. I can be inside any organization in six tenths of a second and creating value in moments.
You grew up with my grand parents; tradition. You embraced my parents; re-engineering. Now it is my time, change is here and it’s already later then you think. I will not seek you out but our confrontation is inevitable. My children, yet to be named, will create a tear in the fabric of value and the basic definition of what is means to be human. Are you ready?
Last month, I posted a quote from Eric Shinseki “"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less" which sums up the basic message of Enterprise 2.0. The one thing I forgot to do is to introduce myself; I am change.
I am change. I work for you, with you, and along side of you. I am your partner and competitor. I am an opportunity and a threat. I am a Lion and you are the Gazelle. I will not come at you straight ahead and announce my arrival with an executive memo. I will leap over you or go around you. If you stand in my way, I will run over you. I will replace you either through advanced technology, outsource you with more productive resources, or eliminate your job when I destroy your business model.
I am change. While you cut my coffee, eliminate my training, and reduce travel in the name of cost transformations, I am buying iPhones, reading Business 2.0 and seeing the world on my own dime. I can read Peter Drucker and know 99% that you learned during the 1980’s. While you attempt to polish the last grain of efficiency from Enterprise 1.0, I have moved to Enterprise 2.0. You stand in fear of 2.0 while I and millions of people like me are embracing it. I can destroy your business by simply posting a bad experience on a weblog. At the same time, I can make your business by buying into your brand and helping define the experience.
I am change. While you try to make your organization more efficient, I will replace you. You love control and hierarchal structures which focus communication from the top down. I will communicate from the ground up. You have 5 direct reports that are bound to listen to you. I have millions of people that will listen to me and what I have to say. You focus on the physical and I focus on the meta-physical. I am agile, flexible, and I can emerge and disappear in a matter of seconds. I can be inside any organization in six tenths of a second and creating value in moments.
You grew up with my grand parents; tradition. You embraced my parents; re-engineering. Now it is my time, change is here and it’s already later then you think. I will not seek you out but our confrontation is inevitable. My children, yet to be named, will create a tear in the fabric of value and the basic definition of what is means to be human. Are you ready?
Comments (4)
Todd,Great post!! I believe that the millennials are
the change agents and enterprises better get ready!!
I had written a post on this here.
Posted by: Dinesh Tantri on July 26, 2007 21:50
Todd, awesome! I'm sticking this up at work.
Posted by: Stephen Collins on August 2, 2007 00:50
Todd,
splendid writing!
I've recommended it to a bunch of friends living the nowadays "change way of life".
Posted by: Erwin Julius Getzel on August 10, 2007 08:42
So, what is the new "value" and the new definition of being human you are proposing? And, what makes you think you can control the outcomes when these technologies are also available to those who would be oppressors and those seeking only there own benefit even at a cost to the group?
Posted by: Sharon Taylor on August 19, 2007 17:17