Slide 1: My thoughts on a few drivers of the transformational age we live in people, purpose, platforms and the possibilities therein.

n. Slide 2: Well go through this as per the theme of this event Evolve. Connect. Enhance. I have used them respectively to discuss the Why (Intent) What (Strategy) and How (Implementation) Slide 3: Half a century ago, the average life e pectancy of a !ortune "## company was $" years. %ow it is less than &" years. If one compares the !ortune "## companies in &'"" and (#&&, there are only )$ companies that appear in both lists. In other words, only &*.+, of the !ortune "## companies in &'"" were still on the list ") years later in (#&&, and almost -$, of the companies have either gone ban.rupt, merged, gone private, or still e ist but have fallen from the top !ortune "## companies /ran.ed by gross revenue0. What happened1 2hange3 Slide 4: 4 touch of e aggeration, because these are not replacements. 5et. 6ut we have seen these technologies evolve in the last few years. 7hat 7witter is the oldest on the slide is a testament to the pace of progress. %ews sharing and consumption happening in real time on twitter. *8 printing is moving towards mainstream, with a mass player li.e H9 about to enter the mar.et. 6itcoin touched :&ooo a fortnight bac., and despite fears that its a bubble, Id agree to the comparison with %apster it might not succeed but it has paved the way for disruption. ;astly, the product Im itching to get my hands on. While I .new the answer was <oogle <lass, I realised it wasnt easy to slot. Information didnt =uite cut it, nor did techsessory, and thats when a colleague suggested 4lfred. If youre familiar with 6atman, youd understand immediately. he le!!on here i! that the challenge! to the "#!ine!! don$t nece!!arily come %rom what it wo#ld de%ine a! competition& and th#! it i! important to evolve. Slide ': 7he larger effect of all these disruptions is what I li.e to call institutional realignment. When I say institutions, it covers a gamut of things from political /do we really re=uire nation states any more10 to health /were *8 printing organs, so what happens to life e pectancy0 to economical /how do you survive the economic implications of la longer lifespan10 to societal /will you stay married to the same person for a hundred years10 I am only giving you these e amples to note the scale of transformation that is happening or about to happen. I call it institutional realignment because I see the change distributed across time and space > industries, geographies, demographics will slowly transform in various timeframes and hopefully cushion us from chaos. 7he reason Im bringing this up is because these realignments have implications on people, businesses and the relationship between these two entities. !or the wor.force, wor. is no longer a ?ob, not a place, its what they do. 7hey bring their own habits and preferences to wor., and affect the dynamics of the wor.place. 7here is a need to be continuously connected not ?ust because they might be wor.ing with teams across geographies but because the demands of wor. are probably real time. 7he changing nature of business also means that they need to update and upgrade their s.ills regularly.

!or organisations, the business landscape is changing constantly, reducing their reaction time and rarely giving them enough time to adapt. 7hey are less li.ely to be able to give a guarantee of lifelong employment security. 8isparate functions are forced to wor. together to ma.e sure consumer demands are met ade=uately. 7hey also need to balance the varying needs of different sections of the wor.force. Slide (: @o how does an organisation cope with the disruptions outside and ma.e sure they are reasonably buffered1 Ance upon a time, we used to =uote that the best way to predict the future is to build it. Id argue that there are too many variables these days for that to be done successfully. 2ould anyone predict say, 4ir6n6 or in reverse, a Boda. or %o.ia1 Cnli.ely, so while attempts to predict the future are fine, one is also well served by being adaptable to challenges. Slide ): How does one do that1 7hin. of your business as an e ercise. If you dont e ercise, it ma.es you vulnerable, wea.. If you do the same e ercises daily, it ma.es you robust, but if you are suddenly dealt with a situation that re=uires a set of muscles you dont e ercise, youre in a difficult situation. %ow if you do a random mi of e ercises, you train your body to adapt to different demands, you ma.e the system stronger because every part of it is on standby. 7his, in essence, is %icholas 7alebs 4nti>!ragile proposition, which also states that organic entities are intrinsically antifragile, while artificial creations are at best robust and li.ely fragile. *ow "ring it "ac+ to the organi!ation. In an earlier era, the landscape was relatively predictable. Arganisations sought to become efficient by defining the wor. they do through their processes Dthe way we do things. Aver a period of time, processes become inorganic, because we stop =uestioning why the processes are the way they are1 7hey become ends rather than the means. /the $ mon.eys story0 7o go bac. to the analogy, the same muscles are being strengthened. @o what is an inorganic fi 1 I =uite li.e this definition of business by anthropologist <regory 6ateson, A business is best considered as a network of conversations. 4ll that we see around socially involves conversations. 2onversations are organic, and that probably e plains why as social software evolves, the tools are increasingly augmenting the way we behave organically, and thereby contributing more and more in the shaping of a different .ind of culture. @o how does social 2onnect1 Slide ,- 7here are =uite a few players in the mi , and we should =uic.ly loo. at the .ey ones before we attempt to connect them. 7he first one is me, the individual. Ane of the most interesting effects of the internet and then social, has been the restructuring of identity. 4 couple of generations bac., a DWho are youE =uestion might have been answered with ones parentage. 7his generation probably answers that with 462, wor.ing at F5G company, depending on conte t, of course. 6ut increasingly, an individual no longer re=uires a single intermediary to establish his identity. Hather self serving, but loo. at me as an e ample. I do wor. at <roup M, but I am also an avid reader, a fanboy of @tar Wars and <ame of 7hrones, active on social platforms, a traveler, a food blogger, a student of Indian mythology, a mentor to startups. It.! not a! tho#gh people o% an earlier generation did not have intere!t! "eyond their wor+& "#t the !cale o% people who +new o% their alter identitie! and the e/tent o% their connection! wa! never !o m#ch. @ince the internet has come into the picture, each of my identities has a home on the web, where I can connect with those li.e me.

Slide 10: 7he natural =uestion is how does this affect the future of organisations. It affects the choice of my employment, and the effort I put into my wor.. I try to ma imise the overlap of these circles that you see what I li.e to do, what I do and what Im paid to do. %irvana is a bit ambitious, but Im aiming for the DMe graph which 4vinash Baushi. is at. 7he more Dorganic my wor. is, the more sustainable it becomes. Slide 11: 7he second player in the mi is the brand the consumer facing portion of the organisation. Ance upon a time, brand immediately meant advertising, but the brand now is a DproductIservice that does a ?ob and affinity is a result of every e perience that a consumer has with the brand. 7he fragmentation of platforms and a shift from a broadcast audience to a networ.ed audience has meant that consumer e periences are no longer controlled solely by the brand. 7he evolution of a brand and its constant reinvention is a much larger sub?ect and beyond the scope of this discussion, but a couple of .ey points to note as a consumer, I am increasingly defined by the brands I consume, and as an organisation, there are an increasing number of interfaces to the consumer. Slide 12: 7he final player in the mi is the corporate brand, the repre!entation o% the enterpri!e. 7his goes beyond individual brands and products and includes all aspects of the organisation the employer brand, the position the organisation ta.es on matters /thin. 4pple !o conn, !aceboo. and privacy, 69 and oil spills, 7witter and political uprising0 7here is a tremendous opportunity in the corporate narrative, and it can be the connective force that binds all the sta.eholders employees, consumers, investors. It has many advantages it can serve as a differentiator /%i.es narrative that e horts individuals to e cel ta.es it beyond competitors0 it fosters an evangelist community that loves to associate with it /thin. 4pple0 and most importantly, creates a pull factor that encourages sta.eholders to associate with it. @o what goes into the ma.ing of such a narrative, and how does one connect these sta.eholders, thats what well loo. at in the ne t few slides. Slide 13: 7he phrase that I li.e to use for this narrative is one that has been abused a bit already > social business. 7o me, it has two .ey ingredients. 7he first is purpose > setting organisational vision and ob?ectives with a social>societal perspective and a purpose that people can identify with. In Hugh Mac;eods words, Jthe need to belong to something that mattersE. Slide 14: 7he second is culture. Aver a period of time, different we have made our own versions of this. 7he word itself comes from "cultura animi" (cultivation of the soul) and I
think that cultivation happens much better when you have a shared purpose. One of the best definitions of culture in a startup scenario a cofounder whos around when youre not. All of this points to shared vision and values, and the freedom to achieve it. Everything else is probably just the means.

Slide 1': 7he idea of social business encompasses all parts of the organisation. hi! co#ld happen in two way! either a top down approach where the .ey sta.eholders understand that a disruption is re=uired and invest in it or a bottoms up approach with multiple drivers forcing the organisation to change. 7hese could be e ternal or internal. Kither ways, once the movement starters, , it can permeate everything from mar.eting to HH to operations and add sustainable value to each department.

Slide 1(- 7he thing that is always said about social is that it doesnt wor. on a one siLe fits all approach. Kven brands and organisations in the same domain differ in their approach to social because of their inherent cultural differences and management practices. 5ou need to try things out and find what wor.s for you. 7here is no time li.e now. (cohe!ive& con!tr#ctive& colla"orative) H1 i! "e!t placed to drive thi! in!ide. ;ets ta.e a loo. at a few e amples of this. Slide 12- Maslow has become a favourite for me because it deals with the fundamental reasons why we behave in certain ways motivations. I dont .now if its a hammer>nail problem, but increasingly,I have begun to loo. at the hierarchy of needs as a framewor. for pretty much everything. @o I decided to loo. at HH in this light. I have added Internet at the bottom because I still see organisations cutting off access to !6, 7witter etc. Im waiting for the research that says Whats4pp is a bigger enemy. 3#t& in the traditional hierarchy& arg#a"ly& mo!t 4o"! directly or indirectly only wor+ on the two "ottom level!& tho#gh I.ve al!o heard o% occa!ion! where the third level i! involved eg. I got !crewed at wor+. I got a"o#t 3 application! o% how H1 a! a %#nction can lead or "ene%it %rom the %oray into two higher level!. Slide 1,- Ane of the biggest re=uirements during any transformation is communication. While Intranets and email blasts to 4ll have done their bit, they are largely an e tension of a broadcast mindset. *ew age enterpri!e colla"oration tool!& li+e I mentioned earlier& a#gment o#r organic "ehavio#r& ena"le %ormation o% comm#nitie!& increa!e re!pon!ivene!!& and %rom a 5a!low pov& add to the "elonging and e!teem level!. @uch is its prowess that for a while Knterprise (.# and social business were used interchangeably. 6ammer and challenge!. Slide 20- 4n enthused community provides e cellent opportunities to create an employer brand. In addition to a business networ. li.e ;in.edIn, social platforms li.e blogs and twitter allow organi!ation! to give people a view o% what it i! li+e to wor+ in there& provide! an aven#e %or "#ilding tho#ght leader!hip& give! employee! a chance to channel their enth#!ia!m and pa!!ion. Its probably the best showcase of the organisational culture, and its most important use is in creating pull for the brand. hat a%%ect! one o% the mo!t important a!pect! o% H1 7 hiring. !reshers, e perienced fol.s, all have their own motivations for ta.ing a particular ?ob, but theyd all li.e to wor. for a brand thats admired. 8gain& thi! wor+! on the "elonging and e!teem level!. Slide 21- 7he last application continues on the hiring aspect. 8! employee! "ecome more engaged with their wor+place& they are the "e!t people to %ind potential candidate!. *ot only are they aware o% the wor+place& "#t they al!o +now who among their %riend circle! wo#ld "e a good %it. 4gain, ;in.edIn is only one way of doing this. 7here are now specialised tools which allow employers to tap into their wor.force contacts HireHabbit, which has an app that sits inside your !aceboo. brand page, allowing your employees to connect their friends easily to a ?ob, and Galp and Whistle7al. both recruitment software that allow you to better manage your employee referral programs.

Slide 22- 7here is a wave on its way. In 7he 6ig @hift line of thought, this is the third wave. 7he first was about building the foundations the internet did this in terms of technology, infrastructure, transforming business. 7he second wave was about how .nowledge flowed, amplified by the rise of social tools. 7he third is about how institutions, including organisations will handle the challenges of these transformations. oday yo# have one per!on with a !martphone a"le to "ecome a !o#rce o% new! %or million!. I% that cannot "rea+ organi!ational !iloe!& I don.t +now what can. Slide 23: Ill leave you with this thought. Ane of the better models I have seen to harness and align the conversations > is 7he Hesponsive Arganisation Manifesto. 6eyond the technicality of that definition, I li.ed the simplistic framewor. that has been proposed, which pretty much addresses the challenges that I had mentioned earlier. 7he first point addresses competitive advantage, which is slowly shifting from efficiency to how fast you can respond. 7he second points to the .ind of structure that would enable this. 7he third is on the .ind of decision ma.ing that is re=uired to create this advantage. 7he ne t two points deal with the motivations of the wor.force, and the last is about the relationships between the various parts of the ecosystem. Slide 2': 4nd now I will try to respond to =uestions, if any. 4 hat tip to the birthday boy3