Your New Boss: Technology-Spawned Leaders
In a world that changes so quickly that it is nearly impossible to comprehend the current iteration, we must look ahead to the next iteration and attempt to understand it before it arrives. In doing so, we can hope to succeed in the next generation. We can look ahead by examining current trends and trying to predict where they are headed.
I would submit that one of the most major trends today involves the open-source community. While the open-source community itself might not affect our daily lives much (yet), the attitudes behind it are one of the most powerful and dangerous forces of our times. This attitude is one of independence and democracy. Those in the open-source community believe that the general public is not only capable of producing software on par with more traditional corporate endeavors, but that the software they produce is preferable to mainstream software. This attitude, while somewhat perilous, is frought with potential.
Recently a product of this outlook, called Assignment Zero, was completed. This project involved the development of articles in on an open basis; anyone was permitted to contribute, and the end results were the product of collaborative effort.
If we look into Assignment Zero in a bit more detail, we can, perhaps, gain insight into our primary question: what will the next iteration look like, and who will be stepping up as the successful leaders in it? This quote is revealing:
The flood of volunteers made Assignment Zero’s design flaws quickly apparent. Potential contributors — which numbered roughly 500 after the first week — were routed to a single Assignment Zero staffer, a former WashingtonPost.com editor, Steve Fox.
So, we can see that the problem is managing this crowd. I would submit that the truly successful people of the next generation will be those who are capable of understanding this new trend before it happens and managing it. It will be the people who are innovative, unafraid of experimentation, adaptive, and willing to take risks on something underdeveloped. These people will emerge as the bosses of the next iteration.
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