Miles to Go: What drives value creation in the Bionic Era?
Food for Thought: A new era with new forms of capital
When we look at the business landscape, it’s remarkable just how many digital-native companies are building exponential value. For starters, they share a penchant for tapping into new forms of capital in the Bionic Era. In the newest Miles to Go podcast, PwC US Marketing Leader John Sviokla and I continue our conversation on platform businesses, and how these new types of capital—Behavioral, Network and Cognitive—are reshaping the ways in which companies create and build value.
The value equation, however, isn’t complete without one additional ingredient: labor. In the physical world, we have financial capital and talent. But in this new era, businesses have to introduce the other three. With executives asking how they can get the best talent, John and I discuss the new mandate to connect human capital with the new forms of behavioral, network and cognitive capital. I hope you’ll tune in and listen to our conversation!
ICYMI: Rethinking the elements of productivity
I’ve recently gone back to the Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson book Rework. If you’re not familiar with the book, the authors take a refreshing and at times counterintuitive approach to business. The book eschews business plans, meetings and office space. While the book is geared largely toward people who are starting their own businesses, I find the principles the authors set forth can be applied to individual productivity in a broader sense. As I’ve mentioned previously, “busy” doesn’t necessarily equate with “productive.”
What Keeps Me Awake at Night: How does ‘purpose’ fit in a business model?
We hear a lot of discussion these days around corporate purpose. Particularly in the current hyper-connected culture, companies have become woven into our societal fabric as never before. We need to reconnect concern about shareholder value and the value a corporation provides to society in a larger sense, reconnecting GDP with the broader set of societal concerns.
Blair Sheppard, PwC’s Global Leader for Strategy and Leadership, discusses this conundrum in a new video. The bottom line is that companies don’t perform as well if the societies in which they operate aren’t effective. So how do organizations connect purpose, strategy and culture? He explains we need to make sure the products and services we offer are consistent with our underlying purpose. The next step involves clearly articulating that purpose, and then driving it within our organizations, to attract the right people and optimize the culture. I encourage you to watch Blair’s short video.