"Big Board" Mentality

"To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself. "
Soren Kierkegaard

As I travel and meet people who are interested in expertsourcing & crowdsourcing there is one often asked question, while understandable, still leaves me shaking my head.

"How can I crowdsource, we are a public company." or "Our secrets will be lost if we involve outside experts."

The best way to answer this question is with a clip from Stanley Kubrick's movie "Dr. Strangelove." There is a scene in the movie where the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff are in the war room discussing wether or not to allow the Russian ambassador access to the room. George C. Scott plays a U.S. general who is concerned such access will lead to a "security breach" with the Russians gaining secrets on his "big board." (at end of clip).

The scene is silly but it brings up a good point that is relevant in business. Most companies suffer not as victims of corporate espionage (the "big board" scenario) but under the weight of their own secrecy. If a business never takes a chance and engages its: experts, customers, shareholders, or any other constituency, mediocrity is almost certain. In Short, "You can't win if you don't play."

It is a natural human trait to be proud of our achievements. The general's big board represents his value chain, tanks, planes, all things he is proud of and afraid to share with his enemy. It is the unwillingness to share that prevents him from achieving the goal of meeting with his adversary and preventing WWIII. Value chain analysis is critical in a hyper-connected "flat" world:

• The secrets most businesses think are safe, probably are not.
• A competitor, dumb enough to steal and replicate a business process will likely screw up the execution and end up helping the originator (Microsoft Zune).
• The effort expended in developing a value chain such as: a call center, subscription knowledge bank or, digital rights management system may end up handicapping the value chain owner as less expensive, disruptive technologies emerge.

Many public companies such as P&G, Merck, Kimberly - Clark, and The New York Times realized the threat secrecy represented in the form of protected value chains and disposed of them. P&G takes a chance every time it allows an outsider to develop a product, but not developing the next killer product is an even greater risk.

Tim Gilchrist, Microengagement Co-founder