The Social Age 2019: #WorkingOutLoud on the new map

My work is set in the context of The Social Age: a broad term to describe our evolved ecosystem. New structures of work, of social organisation, of learning, leadership, and connectivity. Each year i redraw my map of the Social Age, to reflect the core topics that i see as most central to our understanding. These maps are cumulative, different views of the features i see most heavily impacting Organisations, or those on the close horizon. I encourage you to draw your own map, to consider the true impacts of the Social Age, both from a personal perspective, but also from the viewpoint of the Organisations that we work for. Only those that can adapt can hope to thrive.

This year i am exploring ten core aspects:

Certainty: the ways that we knew the world are crumbling. Previously dominant narratives are evolving, or being negated, by newer, often socially moderated ones.

Community: the rise of radically connected, and empowered, social communities. Driving change, subverting established order.

Algorithmic War: the battle for authenticity, the rise of new principles for the organisation, and access, of knowledge.

Inequality: a broader spectrum of distribution, the role of fairness.

Belief: the Organisation as a belief system, the cult of leadership, the points of connection between financial systems, and belief based ones.

Citizenship: belonging to something beyond ‘nation’, the rise of the trans-nationals, the notion of multiple occupancy.

Interconnectivity: connections around the system. The radical connectivity, through fault lines, of the Socially Dynamic Organisation.

Power: the new structures it’s held within, and the dynamic tension between formal and social modes.

Authenticity: importance of deep roots, role of social consequence.

Change: the ability of an Organisation to change it’s core narrative, to co-create the future state, with individual agency at the heart.

Through this week i will share the writing on this, and aim (hope) to publish the full article by Friday.