Charles Leadbeater has an extraordinary talk at TED website. He talks about the rise of the professional amateur. It has a lot to do with this new era we are living in, in which every consumer has now the power to create ideas and express them like never before. I like the word “prosumer” to define this new type of people, whose main attribute is power. Power to express, power to transform, and power to generate innovation.
Leadbeater says something I totally agree with: innovation will never come from big companies, because they can’t handle the degree of uncertainty that comes with innovation. Ideas, says Leadbeater, are flowing up the pipeline.
Companies should be aware of this and start listening carefully to what people is generating today. It’s not about doing focus groups to try to figure out what is it that people want. It’s about seeing and listening carefully to conversations that are taking place in blogs, podcasts, social media and even the street itself.
Companies are no longer in control. We all should be listening carefully.
This little video, written and produced by Leadbeater, is quite eloquent. Enjoy it.
Tags: consumers, Social Media
