Natural Born Crowdsourcers

Collaboration: Gen Y Will Not Ask for Permission

With all the buzz about how technology is changing the workplace "virtual workforce", etc. When you really examine the impact of technology on work, it has not changed our experience much. We still work the same hours, power hierarchies are the same as the industrial revolution, we do type more (on ever-shrinking keypads).

Throughout history, real change has come via a transformations in mindset and philosophy. People used to remember the year of their birth by who was king or emperor. Even the concept of self has moved from simply being part of the land you tilled to an inwardly focused view, a scaled down Paris Hilton for most of us!

Gen Y represents a major change in philosophical approach to work. By contrast, the generations in charge (Gen X and Boomers), developed very differently:

• Gen X and Boomers did their homework alone
• It actually cost money to make a long distance phone call
• “Play” involved getting on a bike
• “Please wait 6-8 weeks for delivery”
• Computing devices are simply tools, not part of a "digital persona"

The fact that we (Baby Boomers & Gen Xers) need to apply terms to advanced collaboration like “Crowdsourcing” is a measure of how uncomfortable we are with the process.

Gen Y is not burdened by this:

• They use online collaboration to do their homework
• Constant communication has always been free
• The building blocks of socialization were largely electronically facilitated (online games)
• Instant gratification
• Electronics, cell phones & the Web as extensions of themselves

Gen Yers are fundamentally different and will crowdsource with our without permission! It's just the way they are built. One example that stands out is the Duke University cheating scandal. Many of the students actually thought they were not doing anything wrong. They were collaborating on a take home assignment. The Boomers in charge viewed it as cheating.

Look for more examples of this type of generational friction. In the workplace, it's the highly collaborating team that wins, not the individual who thinks thy have all the right answers!

Social Networking and Professional Services: an Oxymoron?

Steve & I were fortunate enough to be interviewed by Suzanne Lowe, President of Expertise Marketing LLC. The product of the interview is an in-depth, 6 part Q&A on her blog. Suzanne brings an interesting perspective to the social networking concentration in that her firm concentrates on the professional services vertical.

If any business group could benefit from social/business networking it is professional services, they live and breathe customer contact. The value they would derive from beginning and nurturing a conversation with their customers in the networking context would be innumerable.

Suzanne's insightful questions resulted in an excellent profile of how professional services firms can use social/business networking, a subject often overlooked by traditional media.