A first quick example of where value is extracted i.e. A mobile phone tariff where excess minutes are wiped at the start of each new cycle.  In reality lots of customers lose a service they have paid for.
Refunding this as a proportion of the total bill would be an obvious move that could disrupt the market but would leave mobile phone companies heavily out of pocket.  Another idea would be to allow people to turn it into some form of social value that does not cause the same incremental cost to the phone company i.e. To allow small charities to do free text donate campaigns, to incentivize learning in schools (i.e. The million project,) switch them over to people in developing countries where the operator also trades.

I have recently been reading two books
-The Rise of Collaborative Consumption @rachelbotsman
-The new capitalist manifesto @umairh
Both suggest that we are at the cusp of a revolution where new forms of business will emerge rapidly and old forms of business will all of a sudden seem fragile and unsustainable.
If the dotted line of the drawing above represents this cusp or moment of transition then what would you say about the companies on either side of the line?
Or if you looked at one industry in-particular then what would you identify as the failings of the old and the virtues of the new.
If you can understand this today then you have a good chance of being able to innovate these new forms tomorrow.  Either as a start-up taking advantage of the transition, or as an incumbent who is ready to reinvent themselves.
This image describes what I think the defining characteristics are of old and new.  It also gives a bit of a thinking framework to consider the old and the new of any business sector or market place.  

A summary of the core argument...

We are used to thinking that ideas, innovation and therefore progress happen in a Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ way.  Capitalism is assumed to be inherently good and generating new thinking.  Therefore If we champion and protect the profit motive then innovation is the natural result.

Actually another idea that Darwin made possible is more useful.  Instead the most natural habitat for new ideas is one driven by Ecosystem thinking.  The richness of an ecosystem is defined by the extent to which, collaboration, symbiosis, reciprocity and connection is harnessed.  

In other words... The ultimate success of the system resides in the way it shares.  

If this is true for the promotion and growth of ideas – I wonder in how many other arenas this is also the case?!

In a mass society big spaces open up between individuals and arenas of life that had previously been part of everyday experience.  Generally I tend to focus on the space that opened up between companies that produce things and the community who consume them.  In the past the producers would be part of the infrastructure of life – now they are distributed and hidden behind global supply chains.  Brands were created to fill this space i.e. Uncle Ben smiles back at you as if Uncle Ben really farmed the produce.  You could say that there is now a mediated relationship between producers and consumers.  This process has lots of benefits but also lots of negative consequences.  People are becoming increasingly aware of these negative consequences and the system is starting to unravel. The best companies are finding ways of reconnecting and creating real value for people. This also leads you to think about any other areas where mass society leads to disconnection.

I have been thinking about 3 others arenas where we you can argue that a disconnect has opened up between people and the structures that serve their needs.   In each case there is a mediator that fills the disconnect.  In each case there are also positive and negative consequences to understand.

These are...
1) Politics – mediated by the news media
2) Ecosystems – mediated by markets which hide our connection and reliance on the natural world
3) Social structures – mediated by consumer culture that shapes our ideals, wants and desires 

If there was one model to explain everything I think about brands and communications this is it.
It’s an idea that was something I came up with maybe 2004-5 when reading an art book called the ‘blurring of art and life.’
It was arguing that the world of art had removed itself from the everyday life in a way that it did not create value in the lives of the broader population.
This is the social value of art that can be seen in tribal communities and early history.
It took this thinking and applied it to the world of brands which had also detached companies from playing a social role in society.
This model is about reconnecting companies and brands with real life, everyday experience and broader society .

The adjacent possible is the way that any kind of change happens.  

Chemistry – Carbon atoms recombine to create new molecules
Biology – Basic life-forms emerge only after amino acids and other key ingredients evolve
Technology – The invention of youtube becomes possible after the invention of adobe’s flash software.

Key principles....
To understand innovation we need to look at the environment.  What are the adjacent possibles at any one time.
As one new adjacent possible is discovered it opens the door to a new range of adjacent possibles.  Like a door that when opened, unlocks three other doors that we previously out of sight.
You can’t skip ahead of this or if you do then the chances are that the environment to utilize the new idea will not exist
 The trick is to uncover and explore as many of these adjacent possibles as you can.

Ideas to make sure we are running a learning organization.

1) Give everyone a book allowance to buy six books a year that are in any way loosely related to the work 

2) Create a library of the books that they buy in the agency for everyone to use 

3) Hold a meeting every two-three weeks where everyone has to present to everyone else something they have read,  what are the key points that it covers, why it is interesting, how is it relevant for the people / agency / industry.  This would include; the books from the book allowance scheme, research papers, blog posts, slideshare presentations etc...

The idea is to create a culture where thinking beyond the everyday work is encouraged, help make new connections and cross germination of ideas, practice for everyone at speaking in front of a group in a semi structured way.

The wrong answer is not an inconvenient wrong step along the way, its what allows the answer to be found.  Understanding why something is not working or giving you the answer you hoped for triggers the next step of the journey.  For this reason the people who emerge as great thinkers and innovators are not necessarily the ones with the biggest brains, instead they tend to be the most prolific i.e. They have got it wrong more times and so have also got it right more times!