Comments on: Stand a Little Closer When You Call Me A Band Geek

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Mon, 31 Aug 2009 05:39:02 +0000

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By: Back in Blue

Back in Blue — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:54:01 +0000

[...] of limited choice. Maybe your organization hoards information because they have never been given an option otherwise. Don’t presuppose any of the actions of the crowd. Go into projects with a focus on [...]

By: Steve Radick

Steve Radick — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:27:33 +0000

I get Venkat’s point and it’s a discussion that I’ve had with a few colleagues of mine here, most notably one of our mechanical engineers. He sees the value of social media and E2.0 for people like us, but doesn’t necessarily see how line workers (in Venkat’s terms) would benefit from being able to talk to and collaborate with other people. He’s open to it, just doesn’t necessarily see the business value in it, to him, anyway.

I stand by my point that E2.0 reflects the culture of your organization. But, you’re absolutely correct in saying that these tools help change that culture by presenting opportunities that allowed your personal (and organizational) culture to change. If your organization is one full of walled gardens and information silos, your wiki will be too, that is, until people like you and me start to use the openness that the technology now enables to start breaking down those walls. Over time, those people who had been information hoarders will slowly start to change their personal culture, which will be reflected on the wiki. I think the key part that we both agree on is that simply having the tools available isn’t going to do anything to change the culture – the tools have to be used to support a broader change management strategy.

By: Venkat

Venkat — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:57:05 +0000

I was careful to point out that the band geek thing is an analogy, but I guess I didn’t make it clear enough

Am not saying the E 2.0 evangelists ARE former band geeks, but that they are on the social periphery (they may in actuality have mostly been the jocks in HS).

I think the data support my point statistically speaking. E2.0 is and should be about new business models. But at the E2.0 conference just wrappign up, there seem to be way more staff types (HR, librarians, IT…) than line types (sales, production, line management, engineering…).

For what its worth, I went to school in India (came to the US for grad school), and while I also into geeky stuff and the marching band (flute), the jock-geek distinction back then in India (80s) was neither as sharp as it is in the US, nor a “class” distinction. Then American cable TV happened and the American social structure got replicated in Indian schools as well. Fortunately, by then I’d graduated

But back to the point… relax, I am making a much less controversial point than you think. Pretty much all revolutions start in the social periphery, until precipitating events move them center stage… forget the band geek/jock metaphor and just consider the macrocultural shifting process…