The global financial collapse is not just about the failure of the invisible hand of the market (à la Adam Smith) but the end of the road for the technocratic model of management. Changing the rules, or even organizing another committee to add a little bit of regulation here and there, will not change the fact the business world is between a rock and a hard place. And doing more of the same even better than before, will not work.

All bets are off as the $700bn loan, err, gift, err don’t ask questions is now seen politically as “socialism for the rich” in the US (see the hilarious Jon Stewart on the daily Show). And as the rest of the world looks to support the collapse of the global banking system then these strategies seem more like a PR announcement from the chief executives of Alice in Wonderland inc. and Groundhog Day Industries. Nobody seems to know which way is up, everybody is going round in circles, and real leadership, leadership through ideas seems to have gone missing in action.

Right now we stand at the threshold of a paradigm change. And real change, world change comes about from lived ideas, not optimization. The business world must surrender its dominant model of management which confuses man and machine. Human dreams, feelings, thoughts, experiences cannot be irreducibly reduced to figures. The meltdown of the global financial institutions and their “tyranny of numbers” offers a window of opportunity for the business world to make a step change and embrace leadership with ideas, real ideas that require courage and endeavor to grow human potential.

Strategic innovation is not about cutting costs, or lean work processes… or any of that mumbo jumbo language so favored by large consultancies singularly bereft of ideas and born with a DNA in which everybody avoids risk or real responsibility. Changing the game is about courage, it is about individual responsibility, IT IS ABOUT TAKING RISKS, it is about Noble Leadership, Noble Business, which puts human values, human rights, the world we live in  before the buck and sees value propositions not in $$ terms but in shared meaning :)))) and human experience.

These two attached quadrants show four questions of strategic importance. They reveal the real truth behind organizational innovation and collaboration. These questions show that game changing ideas cannot be subsumed under technocratic camouflage which skillfully avoids real innovation. I am sorry but changing the title of Quality Director to innovation director only leads to discovering new and imaginative ways of cutting costs whose proposals we see littering billboards in most major airports. Innovation has been reduced to a mechanistic structure akin to the re-organization models of the 90’s, swop a few names, change a few titles, pepper your speeches with the latest lingo and Bob’s your Uncle we have the new fashion of the business of “innovation” which ensures you do nothing new.

You see questions, real questions are anathema to business executives because this means that you have to think, and thinking is not something they are paid for, they are paid for doing. And you see the business of management is the business of being right and doing the right thing[i] while the business of innovation is discovering the right question and through trial and error discovering new things. Noble leadership is about helping, encouraging and fighting with the organizational emotional gravity, the learned incapacity[ii], which keeps people circling the status quo.

Noble leadership begins with ideas, ideas which move the human heart, ideas which help people step in the direction of change and transformation. Sharing these ideas, prototyping, testing, failing and their co creation through collaboration is the platform for innovation. The new social technologies provide the framework from which collaborative experiments can begin and find traction and avoid the hierarchical controls of vertical organizations. It is funny but in a recent telephone conference with a top VP of innovation at a consulting firm he constantly missed the point of our reference to “horizontal collaboration” and kept being drawn back to the concept of flat organizations. He said that there are inefficiencies in flat organizations. Not what we meant. We mean the horizontal digital revolution out there, which your kids are playing in, listening to and growing. Man, tell that to the music and video businesses executives who are still struggling with an online revolution that is still killing their business model. It gets worse, when asked to define what “thinking out of the box” meant he said that they don’t use that phrase because nobody knows what it means and ended the conversation on trying to keep things in “frames…  but this is not the same as boxes.”

Thinking in boxes is the root cause of our problems. And because we pay scant attention to the fact that our experience is organized into emotional pre established patterns… words, labels, duh, hence boxes we remain locked in experience by the power of these boxes. It is simple, if you think in straight lines well you are going to keep going round in circles. The technocratic model is about “business at the speed of thought”[iii]… this is the mantra of the knowledge economy, get it right, get it quick. Bada-bum. Well the Lotus economy is about business in the space between thoughts. You what. Yep. Between thoughts. Now this is going to come as a bit of shock to you people who have been living six feet away from your body and mind. But yes, you can observe experience. And yes there are different levels of skill involved. And yes it hurts. Finding that space between your thoughts is the personal journey of leadership to create and foster new ideas, to create, to live, to find meaning. It is the whole of the artistic endeavor writ large and then some. It is not about attending a two day workshop at Art school. It is about turning Art and life into one as the co creation of your life and dream. It’s the real work. The real day job. And the power of the real day job, the job of dream making, is that we can transform the other world of work and change the world.

Our technocratic model of management recognizes the need for creative thinking and new ways of releasing and deploying imagination but it doesn’t have a philosophical basis which includes personal experience. Technocratic management structures are held together by bureaucratic process and supported by data driven technologies that turn the wheel of productivity. People are numbers, subject to market forces, to which they keep getting released to. Hehe. That’s the economist’s definition of freedom. You got released to the market. You got fired. The whole job of management is to be more productive and then as if by magic all problems will be solved.

Copying Web 2.0 technologies will not help your business drive innovation because Social technologies are not data driven; they are emotionally fuelled by human beings not bloody machines. Just using Facebook or Youtube or any of those will not guarantee you success, you have to have ideas… great ideas, huge ideas.

And to those business schools who still don’t get it… human good and ethics and emotion and learning and transformation are the products of tomorrow not a sideline for executives busy getting rich and then doing a bit of good… to keep you in good stead with your conscious and “him” upstairs.

Those consumer groups who are hunting the “bucks before health” global pharmaceuticals, bucks before nourishment, food companies… and the sickening thing is this list is endless, had better be aware that this is just the tip of the iceberg as people really realize just how empowered they are and the power they can wield.  Somehow the technocratic mindset has fused the brains of the world of politics and business in that they see ethics as just a subject of PR, a utilitarian mindset, which puts pragmatism before philosophy. In truth the word value in business parlance is inseparable from dollar benefits and human ethics. One of the most Kafkaesque business statements ever has got to be we are a “value driven business”. It gives new meaning to the principles of double-think. Human ethics cannot be reduced to economics. Business executives need a wakeup call. They just cannot see that their rational business model is destroying lives. Just check out the history of the tobacco industry and oil industry then scan how the business world deals with their products and people and their environment.

The business world needs to wake up because young people will seek change, and when you harness their need for change and the change that is needed in the world with computer power and networking capabilities greater at home than in the work office then standby. Normal service will not resume. You haven’t seen anything yet.

Imagine. If one young man can come out of Burma horrified by the brutal government reaction to the saffron revolution of the monks and nuns and within six months of setting up a Facebook page have half a million members, protests self-organized in a very major city of the world, 30 odd Noble prize winners, and Gordon Brown, prime minister UK writing a keynote address… then the door lies open to a whole range of possibilities. Barak Obama is a Presidential candidate whose appeal is emotionally based on hope and the need for change, individual responsibility and a fostering of new relationships in the world and at home. His campaign is one of the first in the history of presidential campaigns to make such use of online technologies strategically and driven by the young people in his campaign offices which has given him such a superiority in connecting with people, securing funds and donations via individuals and driving an unsurpassed supporter base.

So will the real leaders please stand up! You know the ones with ideas and passion. The ones who have been excluded by business schools that churn out bureaucratic clones whose only concept of adventure is scaling the heights of organization charts. The ones in the business schools who want to get a life. The ones in the world of business who haven’t lost touch with day dreaming. Because the world of business needs you, and your ideas, and your passion and drive, and willingness to have a go. The world of business needs leaders with ideas who can think and act without frontiers. Change the world of business; change the business of the world. Roll on the Lotus Economy please.

[i] Kevin Roberts Saatchi and Saatchi

[ii] Karl Albrecht, Intelligent Organisations
[iii]Bill Gates, Business at the Speed of thought

Unfrozenmind launches the Noble Business network (http://unfrozenmind.ning.com) an electronic Agora designed to help people collaborate, engage and create a new agenda for organisations, businesses and society to change the business of world.

Unfrozenmind Marketing Director Alexei Levene said that “now more than ever we need a global conversation about  Corporations, innovation, creativity and our responsibilty for who we are within this context. We can no longer be passengers, avoiding eye contact with the rest of the world and our major issues about water, education, famine, human rights, greed, war and catrastophes… if you really follow Ghandi’s maxim that “you must be the change you wish to see in the world”… then the Noble Business Network is about where the “rubber meets the road”… it’s a call to action to change. The Noble Business network is about business as a force for good… so tune in, connect and change the business of the world.”

A project that takes place in the virtual world of Second Life, has won the top accolade in the TEC Intraverse2008 Awards.

At a dual ceremony in Paris (real) and in Second Life (virtual), Shell and Unfrozenmind received the award for their development of a virtual Shell island complete with learning centre, laboratory and other business facilities.

Philip Rosedale (real), Chairman of Second Life’s Linden Labs, and his avatar (virtual) jointly made the presentation commenting: “While many companies are using 3D environments for areas such as marketing, Shell and Unfrozenmind have developed a wonderful example of how the businesses of the future will use 3D environments such as Second Life to drive collaboration”

From a concept developed by GameChanger, Shell’s innovation group, the island has been created as one of a possible suite of tools to stimulate collaboration, learning and creativity among employees.

Jan van derEijk, Chief Technology Officer of Shell said of the 3D environment, “Collaboration with others from beyond our disciplines and beyond our industry will be of increasing importance. This virtual world and other social networking tools that we are currently reviewing could play a role in enabling that collaboration -helping us in our innovation journey to deliver real world progress by drawing out the creativity of our vast technical -and non-technical -community.”

Unfrozenmind Ltd designed and developed the project as a part of its BrandNewPlanet 2.0 strategic collaboration offering, with technical support from partners Community Chest SARL. Toby Coop, Principal of Unfrozenmind said “from the outset, Shell have recognised the importance of horizontal collaboration in their organization, as one of the keys that will enable them to unlock the potential of their employees to drive strategic innovation. Through the use of interactive architecture, BrandNewPlanet 2.0brings together a logic of innovation in a 3D immersive environment which allows organizations to collaborate globally, to test ideas, and simulate scenarios etc. We are delighted to have won this award with Shell and with support from our partners.”

About Shell GameChanger:

GameChangeris Shell’s innovation group comprising full-time Shell professionals with diverse backgrounds in business and technology in the energy industry who operate outside the constraints and priorities of Shell’s day-to-day business. Several GameChangerteams work together to help develop ideas that are “between and beyond” the company’s existing enterprise. GameChangerinvests in and provides support to new and unusual technology or business ideas from within the company or from external parties that can contribute to the delivery of responsible energy.

About Unfrozenmind:

Unfrozenmind is a Strategic Innovation Think Tank focused on changing the governing principles of the global economy through fostering the concept of Noble Business… business as a force for good. As the driving force of the global economy moves from products and services to human talent, Unfrozenmind shows how the business of innovation is the business of personal and organizational transformation. Focusing on Strategic Innovation, Collaboration, Horizontal Communication and Virtual Leadership Development; Unfrozenmind helps organizations to Design Legends.

Unfrozenmind is powered by Community Chest, our strategic technology partner. Community Chest is the first marketing and communication agency established both in Paris and Second Life and has clients such as Michelin, ArcelorMittal, Jean Paul Gaultier, Lacoste, and Première Urgences.

For further information on Unfrozenmind (powered by Community Chest) please contact

Alexei Levene, Marketing Director alexei_levene@unfrozenmind.com

Or visit us at www.unfrozenmind.com

Or our 3D Academy at http://slurl.com/secondlife/UnfroZenMind/169/72/36

For more information on Community Chest please visit http://community-chest.com

About the TEC awards

TEC Paris is a technology fair that has, been organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris (CCIP) for the last three years. In 2008, a new prize has been awarded with 7 categories and Intraverse2008, rewards the best uses of 3 dimensional metaversesby enterprises. Sponsored by BNP Paribas, Google and Lazard, the awards judges were assembled by the organizers and were composed of representatives from major professional, government and research associations: For more information please see http://www.tec-paris.com/

Having won 1^st prize at the TEC awards ceremony in Paris for their design and development of 3D Immersive environments with Shell, Unfrozenmind won an additional 2^nd prize for their work in Virtual Leadership Development.

TEC Paris organises an annual awards ceremony that recognises innovative corporate projects using 3D environments and for serious gaming. Other winners this year include L’Oreal, Michelin, BNP Paribas and Shell. The award for their work in Virtual Leadership Development awarded to Unfrozenmind by Philip Rosedale (real) and handed to the team via his avatar (virtual).

Virtual Leadership Development using Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) is a new area that is rapidly gaining the mindshare of corporate Human Resource heads looking to cutting edge techniques and technologies to develop their executive talent. “Its about learning the skills of Web 2.0 in highly competitive virtual scenarios , where collaboration and leadership can be intensively trained, and best of all it is a lot of fun” says Unfrozenmind Marketing Director Alexei Levene.

By enabling Virtual Leadership Development programmes that are globally scalable, and encourage diversity, Human Resource Executives can bring innovative development techniques to their executives that are less costly and faster to implement and scale than more traditional Leadership Development courses.

About Unfrozenmind

Unfrozenmind is a Strategic Innovation Think Tank focused on changing the governing principles of the global economy through fostering the concept of Noble Business… business as a force for good. As the driving force of the global economy moves from products and services to human talent, Unfrozenmind shows how the business of innovation is the business of personal and organizational transformation.

Focusing on Strategic Innovation, Collaboration, Horizontal Communication and Virtual Leadership Development, Unfrozenmind helps organizations to Design Legends.

Unfrozenmind is powered by Community Chest, our strategic technology partner. Community Chest is the first marketing and communication agency established both in Paris and Second Life and has clients such as Michelin, ArcelorMittal, Jean Paul Gaultier, Lacoste, and Première Urgences.

For further information on Unfrozenmind please contact

Alexei Levene, Marketing Director alexei_levene@unfrozenmind.com

Or visit us at www.unfrozenmind.com

Or our 3D Academy at http://slurl.com/secondlife/UnfroZenMind/169/72/36

About the TEC awards

The landscape of organisational and leadership development is being radically transformed by three major trends: The first, “Globalisation”, has opened the doors to new markets, new revenues and new growth opportunities. But it has brought in its wake a level of complexity both on a micro scale (dealing with the tactical and operational processes and decisions that make the business more efficient and effective) and on a macro scale dealing with the socio-political context of your business- that places Talent development and Organisational Design in the forefront of developing competitive advantage.

Whilst globalisation is a word that may seem to have lost some of its currency in business executives circles, without a doubt your competitive advantage will be eroded or dented severely because of this major force. Having a “quality” driven organisation focused on getting things right is your entrance ticket into today’s marketplace, not the end result. The conclusion in business terms is that “The World is Flat” (i): the “bottom-line” has dropped out of externally-based business strategies. The concept of “economic value” has mutated in the marketplace from a quantitative measurement of success, to a qualitative hierarchy of ideas. This transition from economic value to economic creativity marks a paradigm shift from the “Box-Economy”, measured by the optimisation of moving boxes, thinking in boxes, putting people in boxes and exchanging boxes, to the “Ideas-Economy”. “Quality” has morphed from a technical and mechanical emphasis to a subjective one. It is the qualities of your people in driving creativity, innovation, communication, and collaboration that will transform your competitive advantage. (ii)

Technical and or numerical advantages will only have a limited life span in this context. Corporations seeking to out-manoeuvre each other by squeezing the last juice out of their supply chains have unknowingly become ensnared by the inherent fault-line of the digital information race.

As the information playing field becomes levelled out by the speed-trap of technology, “Business @ the speed of thought” paradoxically results in a technological “groundhog day”. Speed has now become commoditised, reducing “efficiency” and “effectiveness” to “table-stakes”(iii). Thinking in straight lines, digitally or otherwise, will keep you going round in circles.

The second trend is the move towards “Distributed Teams”, which refers to the way business teams are spread across the globe communicating and meeting virtually when the situation demands it. Hierarchical line management has been replaced by flexible project management structures whose characteristics are based on the fitness and relevance of skills. Power and positional leadership models are now replaced by situational leadership styles in which people step up or are chosen by the team on the basis of skills- such as planning, collaboration, communication and problem solving. Leadership skills are faced off against the “task” and as such may require different leaders for different projects and even multiple leaders within the same project.

These abilities and skills stand in stark contrast to the vertical machinery that holds most organisations together. As the driving force of business moves from marshalling numbers to innovation, central tenet of its pedagogy moves from the logic of control and management, to the logic of collaboration and situational leadership. The model of business has been transformed from a mechanical structure focused on optimising delivery, to a horizontal structure focused on collaborative breakthroughs and situational leadership.

The third trend is the virtualization of the worlds of B2B and B2C. The key forces driving Web 2.0 are about user-created content and experiences across collaborative networks. Social networking, 3D immersive environments and online role-playing games (MMORPG) are providing the examples and tools to enable business organisations transform their competitive advantage through collaboration. Leaders and organisations enmeshed in vertical managed cultures will find these changes both threatening and incomprehensible. Ask yourself the question, “How much experience have you of second-life, social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft, Age of Conan and Eve?” The in-built cultural models of senior management thinking which decide what is right and wrong are being fundamentally challenged by experiences being driven by technology which digitally connects people across communities and cultures, transforming meaning and identity. Revolutions have been started using these technologies, from Burma to Columbia. US and French Presidential elections have seen parties and candidates supporting and connecting with people in ways previously considered impossible. Organisations like Shell, Michelin or IBM recognise that 3D immersive environments will transform their capacity to deliver new value models, new ways of doing business that transcend the traditional analytical models now in use.

Understanding, experiencing and gaming in these virtual worlds is a training ground for the senior management teams of today and the future.

i. Thomas L. Friedman, The World is Flat, FSG, 2005

ii. Thomas L. Friedman, The World is Flat, FSG, 2005; Tom Peters, Re Imagine, DK, 2003; Michael Newman, Creative Leaps, Wiley, 2003; Kevin Roberts, Love Marks, Powerhouse Books, 2004; W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, HBS, 2006.

iii. Michael Newman, Creative Leaps, Wiley, 2003, see Kevin Roberts, CEO Saatchi & Saatchi, presentation on CD included with book.