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The New Metaphor
Every aspect of modern business is wasteful. Energy and resources of every kind are left to ferment, thrown away unused. Resources have been in abundance, there was little need to worry about the inefficiencies of the system. We are however entering a period when resources are becoming scarce once more, and the overarching metaphors of our culture are changing.
In times of scarcity, it is not raw power that counts, but efficiency and effectiveness. Burning up all your fuel, squandering all your venture capital, leaping up the corporate ladder at the expense of all else, these will no longer win out over careful, efficient harnessing of resources. Speed is still important, but that speed must be sustained.
What they're not telling you
Things move fast in the telecoms industry. So fast that the next big thing can easily become old hat before it has even reached customers, and so quickly that companies with their assets tied into heavy infrastructure can be top of the pile one day and scrabbling in fear of being left behind the next.
I first heard about WiMax about a year ago. At the time widespread excitement amongst businesses was just beginning, as the fantastic range of possibilities WiFi's standardised and certified version of wireless networking could offer was slowly being realised and standardised high capability broadband wireless was merely being whispered about by a few as a distant dream being slowly built towards.
Art is the ultimate business
A commercially successfull artist creates wealth out of imagination. All they need to do is think, explore and express their ideas. Once they are "big" enough, everything they create has great value. The fact that the creation is an echo of the artist's thoughts is enough.
How can we recreate this value source? How can we create artists, and how can an organisation become an artist in it's own right. In an online world where the only constant is change, where any innivation can be duplicated in the blink of an eye, the only way to stay ahead is constant creativity.
The key to future commercial success is the combination business and art.
