From eGosystem to eCosystem

From eGosystem to eCosystem

This last week our Design39Campus team had the great pleasure to speak with Greg Horowitt in person. Greg is the co-founder and Managing Director of T2 Venture Capital and co-author of the bestselling book, The Rainforest: the Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley. This book examines the dynamics and drivers of innovation ecosystems.

The great thing about meeting Greg is we didn’t know any of this or the long list of other impressive things he has done. We just had a chance to hear him talk about institutions and the shifts that are needed to truly innovate.

Greg started off by stating the obvious, schools run on the factory model. But what he said next brought clarity to our thinking. Factory systems, like educational institutions, operate on the scarcity model. They were developed for an age in which resources were rare and needed rigorous management to leverage the maximum potential. Schools are factories running on the premise that information and skills are rare commodities. And at one time they were! Therefore institutional systems became responsible for circulation of ideas and skills, not the creation of new ideas. Teachers we there to deliver the curriculum developed by someone else with a title or power position.

Now contrast that past thinking  with the present reality. Information is in abundance. Curriculum is in the palm of nearly everyone’s hand. Anyone can curate content and post it for others to see. No more rubber stamps form levels of “experts” needed. Students don’t need teachers who simply deliver content anymore. The old system wasn’t designed for this abundance. And innovation is the animal that thrives on abundance. So the ecosystem in which we live in 2013 and beyond, has fundamentally altered from a desert to a virtual rainforest. The organisms suited to life in the desert aren’t well-adapted to life in the rainforest. The systems we developed for scarcity will not help us thrive in abundance.

The following table represents the contrast between the two worlds.

Scarcity Model	Abundance Model
eGosystem Control Compliance Limits Permissions Titles Position power Dependence Rigid Stable Competition Product focus Replication Static Dictator Transfer Thrives on predictability	eCosystem Entrepreneurialism Experimentation Freedom Initiative Timing Contribution power Independence Agile Fluid Empathy Process focus Innovation Dynamic Facilitator Connecting Thrives on disruption

As I mentioned in the last blog post, I was a part of a small group of administrators and educators meeting about innovation last month. In my small group our topic was change. A school superintendent was part of this discussion and it became clear where his head was very soon as the conversation moved away from the group and became one between himself and the person he believed had the most titles and prestige. After seven minutes of the rest of us listening to this conversation, the superintendent began talk about rewriting the strategic plan for the district and how that was going to drive innovation… And there it was! The scarcity model trying to innovate! The people in his schools who could really innovate aren’t even a part of the conversation! How seductive this mind trap is still.

I interrupted him and declared, “And there is your problem.” Getting his eye contact, I explained that changing a piece of paper or district slogan, or strategic plan was a waste of time. If he really wants change he has to speak with and listen to the people at the point of contact which are teachers and students. Let them experiment and innovate and then tell you what needs to change in order to innovate further. Get on Twitter and let them hear you directly that they have the power and then they can speak directly to you too...as an equal.  Stop having power-based meetings where orders are disseminated through layers of bureaucrats with each level filtering and spinning the message until it has lost its potential. Empower the base of the organization to do something great! He then turned back to the expert and continued his previous strategic vision plan rewrite talk. Sigh.

Which brings me back to Greg Horowitt’s advice to people who work in these types of scarcity deserts. In order for innovation and change to happen in these obsolete institutions, the people in the position to make the greatest change are those without the traditional titles and powers. It is up to them to become “Innovation smugglers.” Softly break the rules. Disrupt, experiment, focus on the process and continue to do the right work which moves institutions forward to an abundance model to match our abundance reality. And occasionally set off a bomb in the basement. Not a real one of course, rather a highly visible manifestation of change that catches attention and shakes the long-held beliefs of the scarcity model. Don’t be afraid to do something great and showcase it. Timing is everything in the abundance model. Everyone has a part to play and when the time comes for your role to take to the stage, step into that spotlight. At that moment your part is the most important and the entire movement of the play depends on you. Just because your role may be small in the eyes of tradition, it isn’t in the world of abundance. It’s timing, not title that matters.

Stop waiting for permission! That’s scarcity thinking. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”