The "new economy" is a term coined over 15 years ago and yet, despite its monumental impact and importance, it is a business concept and point of view still not very well understood. Almost assuredly, its scope is significantly misunderstood and essential premise confused and diluted.

Simply put – the rules have changed.

Size and scale no longer matter. The current belief is that ultimate "victory" will go to those who understand that speed, agility and originality are what will create sustainable performance in the 21st century.

The bottom line?

Watch what you watch.

Watch what you measure.

Watch what others are watching and measuring.

The Importance of Seizing Tomorrow

Yesterday is gone and will not return. Even large doses of nostalgia will not help your organization thrive or survive. The drivers of business success have changed with the times. Choose your battle:

• Share of market - leads to an ever smaller piece of the pie
• Share of wallet works - so long as there is a wallet to open.

The future of business rests in improving your share of opportunity.

Opportunity to produce new products and services. Opportunity to meet new customers. Opportunity to make mistakes, and fix them. Opportunity to re-invent your organization, always outpacing the competitors.

The key today is to understand the new order – the new economy. In order to capitalize on a strategy that focuses on increasing your share of opportunity, you must understand that opportunity runs on one type of fuel. Opportunity runs on a single, high-octane, unleaded, rocket fuel.

In business terms this fuel is called - ideas.

The Intersection

We believe too many organizations today are spending far too much time searching in vain for the next "home run" concept or business proposition. They seem single-mindedly obsessed with discovering a new concept that will completely redefine who they are, what they do, and how they do it.

Author and social observer Frans Johansson in his book "The Medici Effect" suggests there is a much different and more effective way of finding new ideas. His theory is based on the belief that it is two existing concepts or ideas which meet at what he calls an "intersection" that have the tremendous potential to be combined into that elusive breakthrough concept.

The so-called "Medici Effect" is based on the Medici's, a family of bankers from Florence. They financed a number of artists, philosophers, and creators of all kinds. Their life-long drive to bring a wide variety of disciplines of thought together gave rise to the Renaissance era. They understood that ideas "like" to be with other ideas. Organizations must learn from other industries, countries, generations, religions and genders. Look both ways at the intersection – in this case you're trying to get hit. Ideas are everywhere, and they're not looking to stop for you.

Point of Impact

Think of the word impact.

Two objects colliding, releasing energy, and moving off in new directions. Organizations striving to increase the output of ideas must find ways to develop an enabling structure (physical and organizational) that fosters "points of impact" of ideas.

Beige walls, cubicle farms, offices with doors – sound familiar? Many of today's organizations are structured in a way that sequesters employees into individual areas, which in turn reduces many potential lines of communication. Surveys suggest that as little as 2.4% of a typical manager's time is spent thinking, let alone sharing their thoughts with co-workers. Make knocking out the walls of your office your first collision.

The Bazaar

The good news surrounding this whole notion of combining ideas is that we live in a time of over capacity. There are more intersections today than at any time in history. Better news still – there will be even more tomorrow. To quote the Cluetrain Manifesto – "the world has become a bazaar". People from anywhere can communicate, share, sell, and buy anything. The combinations are endless. The key is making smart choices and finding the right combinations.

In Our Opinion
The Beacon Group's Keys to Maximizing Intersections

Appoint a Crossing Guard – At first your organization won't know how to look for "intersections". Deputize someone to walk around and open office doors, build cross-functional teams, and encourage 'motion' within your organization. People will bump. Ideas will bump.

Get Offsite – Getting out of your own building will help your team see the world beyond its own walls. There is a greater likelihood that a new idea will arise from a combination that wasn't present on home soil. While you're at it, go to a different place each time.

Show and Tell – On a monthly basis, get different groups of people to present something they find to be of interest to the rest of the organization. It could be as simple as preparing meals from different parts of the world, to new kinds of music, to sports or hobbies. Your organization is a wealth of intersections, start the dialogue.

Experiment – Call a new type of customer. Test market the most absurd flavour of your product you could imagine. Try to develop a product that has the exact opposite effect of your current one. Who knows, it just might be better.

Our Monthly Rant
When was the last time you spoke Latin?

There was a time when Latin was one of the dominant languages of the world. Nowadays, who uses it – OK, outside of the biological and legal communities?

Now, stop for a minute and think about your organization. Ask yourself – are we evolving as fast as we need to be? Are our people seeking to add value to our offerings, or are they simply churning out the same old stuff? When was the last time an individual from our "front line" came to us with a huge suggestion, and we actually listened?

Are your organizational conversations slowly becoming conducted in the business equivalent of Latin?