Last week I watched Otto Scharmer explaining his U-theory, and like Joachim, I too was triggered by what was explained by  as a “network organizing structure” and an “ecosystem organizing structure”.  My take away in the difference between the two structures was the role of the stakeholder. It is the difference in who is included in the process of organizing and what emergences from these organizing principles.

Climate change front runner Al Gore merely addressed the problem of climate change, he did not have an answer to the problem. Once in a while, when somebody raises the topic of fighting the climate change, I drop the perspectives of our earlier discussed government, business and citizens framework. The conversation usually changes from vague problems and mixed feelings to a far more concrete discussion of how to solve the problem. This switch between wild speculation and a real discussion is only Initiated by offering a few handles. These handles miraculously turned doom thinkers into realists, trying their best to come up with a solution of there own.

After the crash of 1929, U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal initiated a package of transformations on economics reformations. In light of the stock exchange crash of 1929, the package included a growing government influence on the capitalist market. The government had seized the financial tools that controlled the economy and moved away from the idea that “the market knows best”. Sounds familiar… With our latest crash in mind, the question arises what the future is of capitalist system.

The stories people want to tell have remained the same. The rise of the Internet hasn’t changed that a whole lot. But the degree to which one can express oneself in an online social situation is fairly limited. The language that is available for communication is often only textual with some additions that the environment offers as part of their shell. Apart from a collection of smilies all subtleties of a conversation are lost. Often, you have no idea who you’re talking and communicating something real is slow.

“Ask yourself a very different question: what are the inputs or strategy, not the outputs. What are the necessary elements, skills, that I need that will work in any situation. It’s like prepairing for a trip around the world; you are going to be in business, casual situations, hot climate, cold climate, what cloth do you take? And you have to do with carry on lugage, not with a trunc on a steamer ship or something. How do you pack? You pack cloth that are versitile, that you can dress up, dress down. The organisation has to do the same thing; what skills do I have that are adapteble, that will work in any situation. Because when I can’t predict the future, then adaptability and flexibility is paramount. Focus on those skills, process those skills, be world class at those skills, then worry about where the journey takes you, but be ready for the journey”- Jeffrey Sampler, Fellow, Templeton College-Said Business School, Oxford

“The key thread is one of individualization, that is reaching more and more inside of individuals. If you look at the progression of economic value that goes from commodities to transformations (even beyond experiences). Commodities are these arms length things that we hardly even touch and feel anymore. Goods are things that we touch and use like cars and clothing. Services are activities performed on those goods like cleaning our cloth, or on ourselves cutting our hair. But experiences for the first time reach inside of us and they engage us in creating a memory.  Transformations actually reach inside and change us; so effective is the experience, that now we become a different person as a result. So that process of individualization of getting more and more into a person, and with transformation the customer IS the product. And of course that is going to be authentic because you actually changed the self-image of who they are.” Joseph Pine - author of “The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage ” and “Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want“

“Communities needs diversity in order to thrive and grow. But if an 12-year-old and a 65-year-old are trying to have a conversation with one another, not knowing how old the other is, having no context of whatsoever. The 12-year-old will react like a 12-year-old does and the other person will react like 65-year-old does because there are not enough gestures there. With twenty people in a room you can modify your behavior and that is part of how communities work but that doesn’t happen in online forums. There are just not enough ways to project the complete person I am to you. Neither for me, nor for you, nor for the community.” - Charles Kriel, artist, producer, DVJ

Societal change is heavily driven by energy and food, both closely related. Food production is the basis of a society. As the food production is essentially changing, society changes. Energy is of the utmost importance to food production as we basically eat our energy. Historically energy meant hunting the animal, than became guiding the animal for agriculture, until today we essentially eat our oil. So the transformation of food production and energy is what realizes a revolution. Information can be part of that revolution as the explosion of information intensifies management. However, media (information) has been of less impact to changing our lives that the automobile has done. -  Wouter van Beek,  professor, anthropologist (INTERVIEW IN DUTCH)