22 Feb 2012

By Andrew

Leveraging The World

I have always liked my Mom’s saying about time and money. If you have more of one, you need less of the other.  That maternal maxim may soon warrant the same blank stare that my son gives me when I tell him his Grandma’s other favourite antiquated aphorism about being “wound up like an eight day clock”.

The traditional relationship between time and money and their offspring (productive output) has been upset by the tools of a new generation.

Let’s look at the most important commodity in the world first. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Do not squander time, for that is the stuff that life is made of.”  

As much as we would probably all like to change it – there are still only 24 hours in the day. However, how we use those hours is changing dramatically. Look no further than that smartphone or tablet sitting right beside you. It has led the way by creating the ability to “work” anytime, anywhere.  For most people, “work” is never more than an arm’s length away.

Any bets on how much longer the 9 to 5 work day will last?  I wouldn’t bet the farm.  The traditional workday is an archaic throwback to the industrial revolution.

If the key metric of a business is its productive output, what purpose is served by limiting the time that this productive output can happen? I am not suggesting anybody work more than eight hours total – just asking what would happen if you worked those same eight hours in the most productive way.  Is that really at a desk, in an office, in between meetings?

The ability to crowd-source has also created some amazing time bending power.  How long do you think it would it take to create the over 100,000 Apps in the App Store if they were the sole product of Apple employees who worked from 9 to 5? Even old fashioned outsourcing has been given a boost by new online platforms that allow you to access an enormous world of talent with ease from your smartphone.    

Money too has changed. Kickstarter is just one of many online funding platforms that leverage the power of a connected world to raise money for anything, from a woman in rural Montana looking to make a documentary about “White Nose Syndrome” in bats to a guy who has raised more than $30,000 to make a wall hook that looks like a rabbit. How many banks and buddies would those two have to beg to get money without Kickstarter?

In a more traditional sense, how you approach your advertising budget has changed – I would argue for the better.

The power of even the biggest advertising budgets has been humbled at the feet of social connectivity. Advertising used to be able to shade the truth and hide the flaws under the gloss of ”new and improved”. In a connected world, flaws are laid bare by the glaring light of social media,  leveraged by the democratic power of the truth. Big brands with big budgets to spend on ads that make false claims face an army of millions on Facebook and Twitter who can do more for a brand than any ad will ever do.

The reverse is also true. If you build a better mousetrap (and a video of it) YouTube will beat a path to your door.

How many dive bar gigs and radio station promotion tours would Walk Off The Earth have to play to get the kind of attention to their music that one YouTube video gained? What would the advertising budget be to get more than more than 58 million people worldwide to watch a video where all five members of the band play one guitar?

Archimedes said, “Give me a lever and I will move the world”.

The lever is here. It is a connected and social world that has disrupted old models and is changing how we approach everything... including time and money.

Do you have a world to move? Reach out and connect if you are looking for a steady hand on the lever.

Twitter: @andrewrathwell
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Links

Kickstarter - www.kickstarter.com

Walk Off The Earth - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NF2edxy-M