From a Society30 point of view, economic growth can no longer be described with indexes such as GNP (the only reason to show growth in our Gross National Product is to convince the financial dragons that we are able to repay our debts within the agreed upon term). The Interdependent Economy of Society30 has other growth regulators than we are used to:
– It is all about what goes out, and not what comes in. So, you will not hear “Are we richer today than yesterday?” It’s all about people being better off. Why produce more products that nobody wants?
– It is about connections, not transactions. Growing smart is about connecting and co-creating, and not just about trading goods with each other.
– It is about people, not products.
– It is about skills – the commitment and creativity of people.
– It is about openness, fading boundaries, and originality or authenticity. Trusting the processes, trusting each other.
After all, we are able to grow in the indirect tangible affairs mentioned above. This is called social capital.
My question is whether you would want to exactly measure such growth…
The new value networks, the place where the old and the new work together again, are characterized by clear communication and directly doing business, designing, producing, and assessing together.
This is The Mesh, not just a network, but the basic foundation of connected and engaged people that forms the starting point of new value creating social networks. When I explained this “mesh” concept to the Dutch philosopher Jan Flameling, he immediately mentioned Gilles Deleuze’s model for society, a rhizome: a (botanical) organism that, in this case, allows for multiple, non-hierarchical entry and exit points in data representation and interpretation.
A grown-up Mesh is an enormous cluster of value networks. Processes in this chaordic (chaotic and organized) playing field are simplified by the use of social media and technologies: the “Easycracy,” as Dutch Management Thinker Martijn Aslander coined it, arises. Our society will become much flatter, and therefore simpler, because we are better connected with each other through knowledge and through transaction systems.
So, a new economic playing field is arising. The alliance of prosumers with the new Organization 3.0 ensures that consumers are participants at an early stage, and in doing so, determine what and how things are being produced. By doing so, all stakeholders in The Mesh of an organization combine social capital and traditional capital, both of which are needed to co-create value. According to Lisa Gansky, author of the book The Mesh, “Mesh companies create, share and use social media, wireless networks, and data crunched from every available source to provide people with goods and services at the exact moment they need them, without the burden and expense of owning them outright”. Our new Serendipity Machine Dashboard stimulates mesh working. Did you check it out already?
Part of this blog text is from the book Society30.
