"Value exists externally—what’s happening outside the business has more value than what’s going on inside." --Lane Becker
Lane shared this thought at Web 2.0 Expo NY during his seminar "The New Customer Landscape." This inversion of value represents one of the most significant shifts between Millenials and their predecessors. Within Campus Crusade I would say this is perhaps the second greatest challenge to leading up (leading those who have more power or a larger title) in my organization.
The previous assumption has been that what's being said/produced INSIDE the organization is dramatically more valuable than outside. Social online networks and online publishing platforms have radically changed this.
An even worse assumption to hold than value existing internally is that control is maintained through silence. That staying off channels such as facebook or blogs will someone silence or prevent conversations from going on.
With more and more new Campus Crusade staff members entering the ministry with a blog the more this reality will manifest in the next five years.
To see what I'm talking about try this experiment:
- Select a leader high up in your organization
- Google their name
- Then select a staff member who is on the field and has a blog
- Google their name
My guess is that you will see (perhaps you will need to try a few different names) a dramatic difference in what Google spits out.
A couple other great quotes I took down from the seminar:
"Organizations are just one node on a large network--it does not matter how big you are."
"Your homepage is just one node."
"But Google is the only real homepage."
Here's the slideshare presentation if you'd like to flip through and see Lane's outline:
