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DISRUPTION NETWORKS
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The most successful people do things that have not been done
before but are cognizant of the fact that the environment they
operate in is one of instability.
JOSHUA COOPER RAMO
is the author of best-
selling book: The Seventh
Sense, Power, Fortune and
Survival in the Age of
Networks. He also serves
as the Vice Chairman and
Co- Executive of Kissinger
Associates, the consulting
firm of former U.S.
Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger.
a fluctuating currency. Our fear stems from our
blindness to the way these networks function as
they destroy the nature of even the most solid-look-
ing objects.
ISIS emerged out of unprecedented digital con-
nection and was itself a reaction to the network-led
disruption that was the Arab Spring. Traditionally,
a long list of hopeless exclusions such as no money,
no friends, no access and no power, added up to
irrelevance, but the tables have turned. Suddenly,
powerful politicians, institutions and business
leaders find themselves confronted not just with
ISIS, but a host of other connected groups like the
bloggers in Iran, social justice campaigners in New
York, and digital pirates in Sweden. Uniting pro-
testers, terrorists and social movements is their
understanding that power exists simply because of
connectivity. By contrast, the traditional political
and business establishments are too slow – their
connections are all wrong.
From both the shortcomings of traditional
establishments and the “successes” if we can
use that word, of ISIS, the business world
can learn just how important connected net-
works are. Success is not about infrastructure
or resources, it’s about developing the ability to
see around the corner, to embrace the technolo-
gy at our fingertips and to learn how to manipu-
late it to our advantage, rather than be manipu-
lated by it. As the experiences of leaders at the
highest levels have shown us, failure to spot, un-
derstand and use this connected power will pres-
ent a huge problem in the future.
AN ORIENTAL PERSPECTIVE
Living in China for over a decade, as well as shap-
ing my view of the world holistically, really shaped
my view of the business and politi cal world. Huang
Hua, a figure from Chinese foreign policy, was
fiercely protective of his country’s interests, but
had a unique feel for both Western and Chinese
culture and the differences between them. Huang
posed the question: “What is the nature of the
age?” He went on to explain that Westerners focus
first on what they want to achieve, while the Chi-
nese look firstly at the conditions and environment
around the problem. You see, the context matters
as much as the solution because, even if you think
you’ve solved a specific problem, that context
endures. Hence what won’t work is an attempt to
EMERGING MARKETS BUSINESS
SUMMER 2017
ISSUE NO. 3
return to an isolationist, disconnected structure.
The networked age is our current reality.
Let’s take as an example the call in the US to
build a wall along its border with Mexico. Set aside
for the moment whether the idea is right or wrong
and ask instead why the idea seems to be so popu-
lar. The obvious answer is fear. But fear of what?
Immigrants taking jobs and committing crimes?
I don’t think so. The fear runs much deeper than
that. It’s a fear of changing expectations and how
life works. It’s a very real and reasonable fear based
on the realities of the networked age where jobs are
very fluid in structure as well as in where they can
be done and by whom. Building a physical wall isn’t
the solution. In fact, it’s the antithesis. If we want to
help resolve the underlying concerns, we need to build
stronger connections and more secure Gatelands.
RETAINING HUMANITY
In all this talk of Gatelands and networks, some
people may worry that the world is losing its human
touch. However, two basics of what it means to be
human are enhanced and even accelerated in this
new age.
The first is connection to others and our trust in
them that makes deep connection possible. When
you connect to a person or an object, you connect
as well to its whole history of decisions about whom
to trust. If you are what you are connected to, you
are also the sum of every trusting (or untrusting)
choice someone or some machine has made. We
may become more cautious or circumspect in our
connections overall, but the depth of trust we have
in our connections will likely grow.
The second issue is inevitability of the passage
of time and ultimately death. As biological crea-
tures, our mortality is a constant, yet a basic hu-
man desire is to do more, be more, achieve more
with the time we are allotted. Networks can help
because they give us the means for tremendous ef-
ficiency. The compression of time offers the possi-
bility to live more with less time.
However, it’s important to remember that net-
works aren’t all about technology. Possession of the
Seventh Sense is not about just letting the tech do
its thing, or about passivity in the face of so much
power. Rather, the Seventh Sense demands grasp-
ing the nature of a connected age and seeing how it
might be used to further, not erode, the things we
care most about.
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