The Fourth Revolution Book is printed!

The Fourth Revolution Book cover
The Fourth Revolution Book cover

The Fourth Revolution book is finally printed! I received the first copies today!

While it will be first distributed physically in Malaysia and Singapore, distribution will be soon worldwide with a Print-On-Demand solution.

In this detailed book you’ll find all the concepts of the Fourth Revolution explained in detail. What is most valuable is the historical perspective, looking at what happened in the previous Revolutions, to better understand what is happening.

I look forward to receiving your feedback on the book!

It will be available within one month in most distribution channels – in the meantime directly from me (I still need to figure out the logistics!).

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If you copy from many people, it is research

Recently I heard the following sentence which I liked very much (it is a quote attributed to Wilson Mizner by Wikipedia):

“if you copy from one person, it is plagiarism;

if you copy from two it is research”

Now that’s really a deep insight into what creativity is. It is often the unexpected meeting of two minds coming from different places. Actually, creativity requires the constructive confrontation of ideas.

The Fourth Revolution increases significantly the frequency of confrontation to other’s ideas and significantly increases the world’s creativity. And that way, our collective cognitive capability.

We still need to quote the origin of ideas, but not be frozen with respect and transform them on the spot.

People tweak and rework original ideas, and products, much more often than before.

Why don’t you give it a try and contribute yourself to the Fourth Revolution?

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The new era: we are now in the year 12 A.G. (After Google)

Did you know that the Fourth Revolution marks the beginning of an era?

after google
after google

I mean, a new Era that starts again the Calendar? Like B.C. and A.D.?

Some people now count the years as B.G. (Before Google) and A.G. (After Google).
Google was incorporated in September 1998, do the maths!

That also works the other way round – I was born in 26 A.G.. I really feel like from the past era!

And you, do you feel you belong to the B.G. or to the A.G. generation?

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Social networks and revolutions: the controversy

There is a controversy ongoing about the role of social networks in the recent movements and revolutions in the Arab world.

Everybody agrees that social networks played an important role, but was it decisive? In other words, would these revolutions have happened without social networks?

Refer to this article “Is Social Networking Useless for Social Change? A Response to The New Yorker’s Malcolm Gladwell” to get a sense of the controversy.

My opinion is that Malcolm Gladwell is still in the Industrial Age mindset that expected a group of people to get together to broadcast something to society. Today we are beyond this. We don’t need a small group of people to devise something intelligent and broadcast it as a platform for social change. Everybody is exchanging and coordinating together on social networks and that creates the fertile ground of social change. And governments that are still in the broadcast-control mode will be swept away by the wave of change. Because the control of broadcasting, which was the foundation of power, is now obsolete.

What do you think about this controversy?

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Track your stolen laptop from hundreds miles away and get your social network friends to retrieve it!

Incredible story that only demonstrates the power of the Fourth Revolution and social networks. At the end, social network contacts of the victim retrieve the laptop!!

Man tracks stolen laptop hundreds of miles away, calls thief – Storify. “I watched this all happen on Twitter a few nights ago, and it was thrilling, and while this *actually happened*, it revealed a really exciting possibility for new forms of live, participatory story-telling: Sean Power had his laptop stolen in NYC, but had to return to Montreal. He had a bit of software on the laptop (Project Prey) that can be activated to start recording what’s going on on your laptop, including taking webcam pics of whoever is using it, and broadcasting to you what’s happening on your computer in real time. Sean Tweeted about the stolen laptop, then activated Prey. Clues were immediately revealed, a picture of the thief! (Tweeted) Then the thief logged into Skype – we had a name (Tweeted)! Logged into Gmail! We had an email address! (Tweeted). Using Prey, Sean could also locate his laptop – at resto called Cantina Latina in NYC… a woman Sean doesn’t know, but who follows him on Twitter, went to the resto – Sean called the cops… It was a pretty exciting bit of real-life story-telling, and it shows some wonderful hints about how we might use tools like Twitter for creating new kinds of fiction (an interest of mine)…This link is to a Storify collection of the event.”

Highlighted by Mitch Joel in his regular blog Six pixels of separation post “six links worth of your attention“

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Why are we blind to the Fourth Revolution?

Most of us are blind the Fourth Revolution. We see the changes in the world but fail to appreciate that our mindset and understanding of how the world goes needs to change dramatically.

blind man looking for the Fourth Revolution
looking for the Fourth Revolution

Daniel Kahneman, the first noneconomist to win a Nobel Prize in economics, for his work on ways in which humans aren’t rational economic actors, calls this effect “theory-induced blindness”: adherence to a belief about how the world works that prevents you from seeing how the world really works.

Look at the blind man on the left. That is exactly how we are. We are trying to touch things around us, we have a cane to avoid falling if possible, and we listen intently. Still we are blinded by our Industrial Age mindset. By good ol’ TV. By multiple distractions.

Silence…

The change in the world is so loud and so silent at the same time. Precursors are there. Numerous. And most of us still can’t see it.

Probably because we are afraid to see it. To lose our usual marks.

The Fourth Revolution is there. The world has changed forever. Don’t be afraid, take your dark glasses of, and enjoy the sweet warm light!

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How to receive feedback the right way

Giving feedback is easy.

Giving feedback the right way, with the right tone so that it is not felt as an aggression and leads to constructive action is difficult.

Receiving feedback is very difficult emotionally.

So, make it simple. Look at the person who did the feedback in the eye, and say: “Thank you”. Smile (in particular if that was a harsh one). Period. Don’t justify yourself or be inconsiderate in promising something you’ll never do. Just say thank you. Smile.

That’s enough.

That’s very difficult.

That’s so important.

Because by doing that you’ll encourage further feedback. And thus improve your performance much quicker.

 

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How to give feedback the right way

A key process for giving feedback I learnt during my coaching classes. Simple, and so powerful. I use it all the time I want to give feedback.

  1. ask permission to give feedback, and obtain it (get a Yes)
  2. state your positive intent (I want to give you the feedback because I believe it impedes your growth, success, etc – and I care about you)
  3. deliver your feedback along the BOOST guidelines (Balanced, Observed, Owned, Specific, Timely) (make sure it is owned by you by using “I” – it is just your view)
  4. propose an improvement path (if you can’t propose a better solution, don’t feedback!)
  5. stop, shut up and listen actively to the person, let the silence be for a while if needed, be active and present.
  6. propose support if the person states that yes, he/she would like to improve.

Try it. You’ll see, it can get the most difficult feedback across nicely. Try it today.

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The importance of feedback for improvement

It is basic, but so often neglected.
Practice can only improve performance if feedback is provided.
If the right feedback is provided in the right way, it can even greatly accelerate the learning curve towards outstanding, exceptional performance.

feedback keyboard
feedback keyboard

Alas, the occasions to benefit from feedback on our practices of daily life are so few. And when we get feedback it is often delivered in such a manner that we dismiss it (remember the last time someone honked you on the road – that was feedback!).

The key to improving your performance as quickly as possible is hence, to setup an environment where feedback can be provided to you immediately, in a way that encourages you to improve. It is the role of the trainer or coach. We need to make it much more systematic. We need to encourage candid feedback at home and in the workplace. To do that, there are 3 conditions
– demonstrate willingness to give and receive feedback
– use a secure process for delivering feedback the right way
– respond to feedback appropriately to encourage people to give other feedback later.

Used properly, this will create a virtuous circle. When do you start?

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What’s a resume for?

The resume is an outdated concept.

It is at most, just one way to communicate one’s brand. Today it is just one way amongst many others.

resume scrutiny
resume scrutiny

Prospective employers will scrutinize your LinkedIn, Facebook and other Internet-based information. They will google you. The way you communicate your brand overall is more important than your resume.

But then, why do you want to be in a situation where employers scrutinize you? Where you put your bets in how the prospective employer slept last night?

You should already have marketed yourself in your social and professional network, so that they say: I have this problem, get me this guy, I know he knows what to do.

And then nobody should ask you for your resume.

That’s it: you’ll know you are successful in your personal branding when nobody will ask you for your resume any more.

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Get out of the personal commodity trap

In the Industrial Age, people were a commodity. They had a tag given by their diploma, were part of a category and were just inter-changeable.
That started changing with the emergence of the Knowledge Worker, one of the precursors of the Fourth Revolution. Still there were broad categories of Knowledge Workers.

the personal commodity trap
the commodity trap

Beyond the Fourth Revolution, the K.E.E.N will absolutely need to avoid becoming a commodity.

As the excellent illustration says – make sure not a lot of ordinary people understand what you are doing. Invent a fancy job title, an unexpected tag line to describe what you are doing.

Develop a unique personal brand. And market yourself.

Commodities are easily replaced. Commodities’ price gets down with competition from low cost countries.

Above all, don’t stay a commodity. Get out of the commodity trap. Start now to build your identity, your brand, and to market yourself.

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