It’s the start of the first full week of Ecademy 4.0. Congratulations to Penny, Thomas, and the team for this incredible new platform that we can all contribute to, and by doing so leverage it, and create visibility, credibility, and ultimately, profitability, for ourselves and our business.

Penny and Thomas realised eleven years ago, that the future was bright, the future was networks.

We may not all be as forward-thinking as them, but surely the time has come to acknowledge that we are at the end of an era – the era of hierarchical and corporate institutions, and at the beginning on an incredible new era – the linked or network economy. And the good news is that this is where the individual can shine!

To quote Kevin Kelly in his brilliant writings “New Rules for the New Economy”, the new economy exhibits three important characteristics:

“…It is global. It favors intangible things–ideas, information, and relationships. And it is intensely interlinked. These three attributes produce a new type of marketplace and society, one that is rooted in ubiquitous electronic networks.

Networks have existed in every economy. What’s different now is that networks, enhanced and multiplied by technology, penetrate our lives so deeply that “network” has become the central metaphor around which our thinking and our economy are organized. Unless we can understand the distinctive logic of networks, we can’t profit from the economic transformation now under way.”

So in order to be successful in business now, we need to understand the power of networks and how to leverage them.

If you do one thing today, I urge you to sit down and read Kevin Kelly’s New Rules for the New Economy. It is absolutely mind-blowing. He originally wrote it in 1998, but, to celebrate its tenth anniversary, he re-published it as a blog.

Sharing, conversations, collaboration, and contribution are the new currencies of these networks.

You need to be active in as many networks as possible, because the value of an action in the network economy multiplies exponentially by the number of networks that action flows through.

You should also seek to add value and maximise the opportunity of others, because, if they are successful you will be even more successful!

“In every aspect of your business (and personal life) try to allow others to build their success around your own success. If you run a hotel, what can you do to permit others–airlines, luggage retailers, tour guides–to be part of your network? Rather than viewing their dependency on your success as a form of parasitism, or worse, as a rip-off, understand this tight coupling as sustenance. You want to entice others to create services centered around the customer attention you have won” … says Kelly.

So, it will be your network that feeds you in the years to come.

Might now be a good time to consider what strategies you are instigating to grow your network, both on and off-line?

Which shared-interest communities can you contribute to and thereby leverage to grow your visibility, credibility, and profitability?

The web dictates and rewards transparency because there is growth in transparency. What are you doing to build your “long tail” on google, so that you can be “find-able” on-line and have a great record of providing an excellent product or service?

What could you do today that could add value to what someone else is doing?

Who could you write a testimonial for today, that would help build trust for that person?

How can you maximise the number of relationships flowing to and from you?

The network rewards generosity in ways you can only begin to imagine. When engaged with correctly, it becomes an “opportunity generator” and “possibility factory”.

Thomas and Penny have spent eleven years growing this network that is now available for you to leverage and benefit from.

What might your network look like in eleven years time if you started today?

Myself and my wife Vanessa have only been building our network for four years, but we are now in a position to charge people to leverage it. However, by leveraging other people’s networks, you can get a “quick start” to building yours!

But don’t enter a network to “take”. That strategy will be doomed to failure. Spammer mentality does not compute in networks. Those that speak, but do not listen and engage, will find they are speaking to an echo-chamber and they have no influence.

Enter a network to “give”, to add value, to listen, to collaborate, to share, to support, to engage.

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

We are all the network – are you plugged in?

If you want to understand social media and want to understand more then come along to our event this weekend in Guildford 20th – click here –

Regards
N

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