In the Talent Dynamics square we look at the four different energies and how they affect different profile types, but did you also know that business also goes through these four same energy cycles and knowing where you are in the cycle allows you and your business to always benefit from the rising waves.
SEASON ONE: SPRING
The first season in every cycle is the ‘Spring’ phase. On the Talent Dynamics Square, it is always the Creators and Stars who profit during this phase. When the PC industry began in the 1980s, it was the early creators like Apple and Microsoft that took the lead. At the beginning of the Internet, in the 1990s, it was creators like Mark Andreeson who launched Mosaic, one of the first web browsers, that hit the news. At the beginning of Web 2.0, after 2000, it was the platforms with a purpose, like eBay for auctions or MySpace for music that were the first to take off.
SEASON TWO: SUMMER
The second season in every cycle is the ‘Summer’ phase. This is always where the mass market follow the early adopters and communities built around a common platform. In the 1980s, PC manufacturers like Compaq and Dell grew rapidly and Apple fell by the way side as scale beat innovation. This is the season to ‘magnify’, on the right side of the Talent Dynamics Square.
In the 1990s, the early start-ups on the Internet got swallowed up by the big networks like Compuserve and AOL. These were ‘walled gardens’ that didn’t share their data with the rest of the Internet. In Web 2.0, Facebook and Linkedin are the equivalent of Compuserve and AOL.
SEASON THREE: AUTUMN
The third season in every cycle is the ‘Autumn’ phase. This is always where there is a critical mass in the market who no longer want to be restricted by the walls, and begin to self-organise their own communities out of the chaos of conversation. In this third stage of the PC industry, it was the regional computer superstores and computer magazines that saw the biggest growth. In the early Internet it was when companies like Webvan, boo.com and pets.com, gave the market the way to find the products they wanted organised by their interests.
What about the ‘autumn’ season of Web 2.0? This ‘reorganise and recommend’ phase has hit the headlines last month. Pinterest has been billed as the fastest site to reach 10 million users. It gives users the chance to pin their favourite images and products onto pinboards. It is part of the shift from ‘conversation’ to ‘curation’.
At this early stage, Pinterest already drives more referral traffic to company websites than Google+, LinkedIn and Youtube combined. Pinterest copy-cat sites have already launched that allow users to not just look at products based on what their friends recommend, but to buy them then and there.
SEASON FOUR: WINTER?
The fourth phase, the ‘Winter’ season, is when we move to consolidation. This is the storm, form, norm, perform cycle – create, connect, curate, collate. The PC industry shifted from product to service, when service providers like Salesforce and Google begin taking over from the software and hardware providers, disrupting both. In the early Internet, it was when Paypal, Amazon and Apple made it easy for transactions and micro-payments, changing the pricing of everything.
The fourth phase in Web 2.0 will be when each of us can be our own bank, accepting micro-payments and transacting in multiple currencies (including the ones we create ourselves) anytime, anywhere. We will find ourselves with multiple earning (and spending) opportunities every day.
In the meantime, Internet TV is about to begin in Spring. The Mobile Internet is already in Spring, moving to Summer. All these waves simultaneously add up to a perfect storm.
So what season is your industry and business in and how best can you cash in on the action and surf the wave before it is too late.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
