Connected people

Update: I added a few more points to the end of the post. This list might grow as the discussion around this theme continues. Thanks for the comments!

I am speaking tonight on a panel with Pascal Rossini and Thierry Crouzet about the connectors, the generation that “silently, without demonstrating or asserting, is changing all the established codes”. An important and impassioning subject as it is a real revolution we are witnessing at the moment. And it is not only happening at LIFT or reboot, but in our daily life.

I wrote down a few ideas to clear up my mind before the talk, here they are:

Connectors brought some new rules:
• there aren’t six degrees of separation like before, but only one. All connectors are accessible via Google and email.
• the connector’s world is flat, old hierarchies are dead.
• the connector’s world is a meritocracy, everybody can stand out with creativity or work.
• english is everybody’s language, an interface between people around the globe
• relations are now bidirectional, unilateral communication – ignoring the other part’s feelings – is dead.
• machines (computers, mobile phones) are the number one socialization tool, and these offer some interesting and new possibilities (familiar strangers, meetic, urban seeder )

What are the consequences of this shift?
• Internet is the new silicon valley.
• meritocracy is a reality for enterprises, creators, artists, etc… Take coComment that goes in seven days from a Swiss chalet to Wired.
• network is the new job security (as hugh told me over lunch last week, great quote)
• our identities are more and more forged by our relations rather than by what we are
• a global culture is emerging, we have never had that much in common (google is the obvious example). At the same time, nationalism is re-emerging again a little bit everywhere…
• rules will completely change in the coming years, the third wave is here. This will notably impact our businesses that will have to rethink marketing, recruiting, work-life balance, work organization, management, etc…

Why is the revolution happening now?
• internet of course, it created an almost universal link between all of us.
• the education and information level has never been that high, and citizens increasingly want to have their say and become consumactors.

This sounds too good to be true, what’s wrong?
• the entry barrier to the world of connectors is relatively high. One billion people use the web out of six billions human beings. That’s a long way to go, and a decent education is still not a given in most countries.
• Nicolas Nova was telling me he was skeptical this model could self organize and scale. I tend to agree with him and think connectors are more an emerging elite rather than a phenomena coming to every single person on this planet.
• we tend to have more relations with people through computers. We communicate more with those that are away than with those in our immediate vicinity. Sociality is getting less and less human, and we’re losing a lot of richness and diversity in the process.

A few more points:
• Network is stronger than geographical positions.
• Confidence (and relationships) is this world’s most valuable intangible asset.
• The intention economy is here.
• Innovation will come from everywhere, especially from the bottom. Hierarchies are dangerous.
• ideas are snowballs. A leader is a person whose ideas will be picked up and relayed by others. You can’t lead by imposing ideas anymore.
• I fear for my privacy. Privacy and identity will be a major challenge for the connected world.
• The fact my life is archived – whether I like it or not – freaks me out.