Customer Reviews

The Future Arrived Yesterday: The Rise of the Protean Corporation and What It Means for You

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author is very articulate in scripting the character of a 2.0 organization; which he calls a "protean organization" as part of a "protean society" where time will seem to accelerate (a dynamic world), distances further shrunk (globally connected), a sense of isolation will increase (importance of individuality). At the same time; the excitement will be more.

In such a society, the writer describes a protean organization to be essentially lean (with core group of people at the center - to manage and rive the company history, philosophy & mission). This lean group would take care of infrastructure, & strategic planning.

The core group will be surround by a dynamic workforce (salaried/ contractual employees with benefits & flexible working arrangements)to allow the company to respond nimbly to change.

Furthermore; the author takes our mind into the 2.0 era where a protean being would exist. Probably the highest capable form of human existence which would essentially be a combination of individuals strongly rooted within themselves; complete understanding of their strengths, weaknesses, skills, goals and aspirations looking for assignments NOT title/s as a way of growth in their careers.

[...]

"In his new book entitled "The Future Arrived Yesterday", Michael S. Malone defines a new phenomenon in the corporate world which he calls the Protean Corporation. The Protean Corporation is a new form of organization that is structured to handle the stresses and strains we see emerging in our marketplace today. Stresses ranging from the retiring baby boomers being replaced by Gen Xer's, Gen Y's and millennials to the rising Asian workforce, continuous Internet connectivity, the pace of technological change, dramatic increases in new consumers the emerging nations and the rise in entrepreneurialism. These stresses and strains are unleashing an unprecedented rate of change into the marketplace, a rate of change that has never before been experienced and one that the organizations of today cannot possible handle successfully.

According to Malone the Protean Corporation "must find a way to continuously and rapidly change almost everyone of their attributes - products, services, finances, physical plant, markets, customers, and both tactical and strategic goals - yet at the same time retain a core of values, customs, legends, and philosophy that will be little affected by the continuous and explosive changes taking place just beyond its edges."

How does the Protean Corporation do this? By structuring itself into three distinct groups;

1. Core - the core staff are permanent staff responsible to retain the core values, customs, legends, and philosophies so that they will be little affected by the continuous and explosive changes. It is up to them to uphold the corporation's culture.

2. Inner Ring - permanent employees responsible for the operations of the business. These staff need to understand the workings of the business inside and out and must be extraordinary leaders as they will be leading day to day activities of the "Cloud" which makes up 90% of the Protean Corporation.

3. Cloud - In terms of numbers, the Cloud makes up 90% of the Protean Corporation. These are temporary staff whose employment may last anywhere from hours to days to years depending on their role and the requirements of the Protean Corporation at the time. They will be the staff that actually executes most of the day to day work under the guidance and direction of the Inner Ring. The Core employees will oversee the Inner Ring and the Cloud and ensure that the corporation's core culture is maintained.

What does this have to do with your Strength Zone?

Its pretty simple reallyâ¦.unless you understand your strengths and are working in your Strength Zone, you are not going to understand where you fit into the Protean Corporation and you will end up getting steam rolled by it. You need to understand how you can best apply your strengths in this new organization and whether you are best fit to live in the Core, the Inner Ring or the Cloud.

No matter how the Protean Corporation structures itself to handle the increasing rate of change in today's world, unless its employees are working in their areas of strength (their Strength Zone), the Protean Corporation will not be successful.

I loved this book. Maybe its organization could have been a little more refined so there were fewer chapters. But I think the topic and the content are so important regarding business today. The business world changes so quickly these days. In fact, it really has not been stable since about the time I entered the workforce back in the late 1980s. And it keeps changing quicker and quicker with every year.

This book is about companies doing business in industries that are being turned upside down. Such companies are dinasours that are either going broke or just limping along waiting to go under. This book talks about the need for every company in the future to be a protean one - able to be flexible and shift its shape to conform to the demand for its services and products. The book is well written and is split into 5 sections and 14 chapters as follows:

§1. The new world [1&2]
§2. Reinventing themselves: How corporations evolve [3-5]
§3. Building the protean corporation [6-10]
§4. Running the protean corporation [11-13]
§5. The protean society [14]

0. Intro: Catching the future, again
1. A new business model for a new world
2. The shape-shifter: The paradox of permanence & change
3. The rise of the corporation
4. Packard's way: The technology era
5. The center cannot hold: The virtual era & its fading relevance
6. The cloud, the core, & the boss
7. Denizens of the core
8. Rethinking the CEO
9. Where the real action is: The cloud
10. Bringing in talent: Competence aggregator
11. Who matters: Fateholders
12. Rings of engagement
13. Redefining success: What a protean corporation actually does
14. The world's first entrepreneurial society
A. Core size

We have seen traditional ways of doing business get outdated. Think of the auto industry in the US. Think of the newspaper industry in the US. Think of the book publishing industry, too. It's just a matter of time before our education system and medical providers get turned on their heads. These industries have not kept up with the times. They cling to doing things in an outdated and expensive way. Basically they are simply out-of-sync. Customers want something they aren't providing. And customers want what they have provided in a different cost-effective way. By reading this book you may be able to build a company or retool one so it won't fall prey to this problem. 5 stars!

Michael Malone is a journalist and author focusing on technology and business. His latest book begins with a history of the changing face of business as technology becomes an essential ingredient and driving force within the business community. He then presents his model of the future business/corporation based on his observations of what has been happening in the last few years.
Malone calls his model the Protean Corporation, named for the Greek god, Proteus, a mutable shape-shifter. He describes a type of corporation that could survive the continuous changes we are experiencing due to technological advances. This new type of business will be one that can quickly and efficiently change shape to respond to a changing environment.
He characterizes this corporate structure as one based on the model of the atom, with a solid core and a cloud of energy surrounding it. His structure consists of four parts: the board of directors (Supreme Court), the CEO (executive), the Core (legislative) and the Cloud (general population). In Malone's model, the Core is made up of loyal, long-term employees who are, among other tasks, keepers of the corporate culture, and these members report directly to the Board. The CEO is the interface between the Board and the Cloud, directing the activities of the corporation and responsible for the up- and down-sizing of the Cloud as is required. The Cloud is made up of part-time and full-time contractor and employees who have a very loose connection to the organization as a whole, and can be added and removed as necessary. This Cloud will be made up of entrepreneurs and contractors, independent of the corporation's central structure and perhaps working in several Clouds at the same time.
Malone argues that we are already experiencing this type of organization, and that this mutability is essential for long-term survival of any business in today's and tomorrow's economic environment.
I found the book rather simplistic in its approach and delivery, and was surprised that it was aimed at CEOs and directors of corporations. Much of the book consisted of historical information of the common knowledge type. Malone's model is interesting and is similar to that in current use by Microsoft and others. It certainly is based on bottom-line economics, and takes the approach that the individual employee/contractor is interchangeable for the most part. I would like to see more interest in the Cloud with its sociology and architecture.

I read more fiction than business books, so I look for the business texts I do read to tell a story. This is why I am such a fan of Michael Lewis, Jim Collins and Malcolm Gladwell.

Many business books seem like an essay extended far enough to comprise a 250 page book, so I usually get bored after about 50 pages. Not so with Malone's book.

The book starts off ok, but for anyone working in new media, the idea of a protean organization doesn't seem too cutting-edge. We live it.

But when Malone goes into his history of corporate structure/culture (going all the way back to the oldest company still in existence -- Beretta), the book really takes off. Malone's recounting of corporate organizational practices, and how these evolved as cultural, historical and technological changes influenced them, is utterly fascinating.

I'd say this book is a required read for anyone trying to make sense of our ever-changing working world -- with less hierarchical org charts, companies booming and busting at alarming rates, globalization making the second and third worlds more relevant to business than ever before, contractors working side-by-side with full time employees (spread across the globe), flextime, wisdom of crowds decision making, smart devices allowing us to stay in sync with our peers 24/7/365, community-driven business innovation, etc.

Another win for this book is Malone's prescient ability to anticipate readers' questions and address those. Every time I thought, "Yeah, but what about...", Malone had an answer for that very question a page or two later. Just brilliant.

Malone isn't afraid to criticize the shortcomings in the protean model either, and this even-handed approach to his analysis underscores that this is a journalist who wrote this, not a cheerleader for the protean model. Nothing he says is truly earth-shattering, but its implications for the future of how companies work could be.

Malone establishes the context of a vastly expanding on-line marketplace with the number of "smart" hand-held devices tripling, greatly expanding the access to that market in developing countries. The context also includes the imperative to organize to support on-going adaptations, in that way gaining the ability to deliver serial innovations. He argues that success in this global market requires a presence in the local market; businesses will be forced to become much more distributed. The task of leading and managing, Malone suggests, will entail a stable and competent business core, but numerous adjunct employees supporting customers' desire for the company's transitory products and services--i.e., the "Protean" Corporation."

I enjoyed reading this book ... I'd put it up there in importance with "the long tail" by Chris Anderson.

Once again, Charles Darwin's explanation of the importance of adaptation during a process of natural selection is directly relevant to a book written more than 150 years after The Origin of the Species, in this instance to Michael Malone's The Future Arrived Yesterday. He focuses on what he describes as the "Protean Corporation, " explaining how and why it is "a new business model for a new world." What are its dominant characteristics? Here is a composite of brief excerpts: It "will be a very dynamic place. Companies will complete the move from hierarchies and toward a model of highly interconnected craft guilds. With a workforce scattered around the planet, linked virtually, the last obstacles to inclusiveness will also fall, meaning virtual job shops, temporary help hired off the Web, more permanent part-time workers, and the hiring (in unusual new relationships) of the retired, the young, and the unlikely (illiterates, for example)...Protean Corporations will appear to be risk-takers with constant shifts and turns [when adapting to changing conditions], but they will, in fact, be risk-aversive, changing their form and direction to minimize risk. Being extremely stable at heart, Protean Corporations will also likely be more politically active (in support of their attitudes and values), an easier target for unions (if a new form of organized labor arises to meet their unique needs), and extremely innovative with regard to employee benefits, pay structures, services, and motivational tools."

When will this business model become a reality? It already has. Exemplary companies include Google, Wikipedia, Pajamas Media, Huffington Post, Approtech, and Twitter as well as several well-established corporations (e.g. HP, Intel, and IBM) that have completed or are in the process of completing major change initiatives. "The U.S. Army, after its experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, is hurriedly restructuring itself to be able to change its shape to meet any threat in the world with an appropriate combat force that adapts on the ground to an ever-shifting battlefield f reality." The new currency of organizational effectiveness consists of speed, resilience, flexibility, and adaptability.

I especially appreciate Malone's skillful use of various reader-friendly devices, such as the checklists that he inserts throughout his lively narrative. For example, he identifies and then briefly discusses his book's six premises (Pages 9-13). "If you do not agree with them, you should be highly skeptical of all that follows." He also highlights key points in bold face or poses a transition question. For example, "The role of the Core [i.e. a body of long-time, permanent employees who best understand the company] in a Protean Corporation is to establish standards of behavior in the company, preserve the company history, and nurture and grow the company's culture. Its primary operating task is to advise and consent on all cultural decisions made by the company chief executive and management. Its secondary task is to maintain and upgrade the company statement of purpose, corporate objectives, and all other documents, regulations, and standards reflecting the company's culture and philosophy. The Core reports directly to the Board of Directors and indirectly to the CEO." (Page 122) Now here's a question: "What happens when the plans of a CEO collide with the corporate culture being maintained by the Core employees? Who wins?" (Page 153). Note how effectively the statement summarizes key points and how the question then sets up Malone's response.

He accepts the inevitability of the new future he has described as well as its challenges, and offers a strategy "for businesses and other institutions to meet that future and succeed." He makes a compelling case for the Protean Corporation, "fort a new organizational model that is not so radical in its design or that requires such a complete restructuring of current models that no company or other institution could justify risking the attempt." Malone may be a visionary thinker but he is also a pragmatist whose opinions and insights are guided and informed by empirical evidence that can be verified. With all due respect to the importance to an organization of its ability to move quickly, adapt to rapidly changing marketplaces, and, perhaps most important, attract the talents of an increasingly entrepreneurial workforce, Malone concludes his brilliant book with an eminently sensible reminder: "But even as you build your Core and fill it with Core Employees, it is absolutely vital to circumscribe their powers. They are, in the end, people of the past, not the future, they represent stasis, not change. It is the rest of us who represent the future, who embody that change. And by giving those few others the task of preserving what is defining and enduring, they in turn free the rest of us to pursue out ever-changing, ever-shifting dreams. The Protean Society belongs to protean imaginations."

Sooner than "the rest of us" may realize, the future that arrived yesterday will become a distant past and those who remain must then adapt to a new future that has only recently arrived, posing new and more daunting challenges than we can possibly imagine.

Michael S. Malone's recent publication, "The Future Arrived Yesterday" is generally well-written and very thought-provoking. I enjoyed most of the book and it has already caused me to begin thinking about my relationships with corporate entities of all types in a new and enlightened way.

Stylistically, Malone's prose is well-honed from his 30 years as a reporter, therefore mostly enjoyable to read. That said, there are two or three sections in which he goes a little "off the deep end" so to speak in order to make his point. Where a page or three of thoughtfully constructed arguments would have sufficed, he gives us a chapter or two. This makes for something of a disjointed reading experience - oscillating between some very riveting ideas and the occasional doldrums of an arguably unneccesary deep dive into certain minutae which the author holds dear. Despite this shortcoming, I still consider the book "recommended reading" for most business people given the power of his ideas and perspective.

Structurally, the basic premise of the book is that myriad technological, cultural and economic trends are culminating in the birth of a new corporate organism - the "Protean Corporation".

In "Part 1 - The New World" Malone outlines his argument with a nice Summary, then gives us an enjoyable and appropriately succinct stroll down memory lane with the history of the corporation since it's inception in "Part 2 - How Corporations Evolve".

In "Part 3 - Building the Protean Corporation", he makes what I believe is his most contentious assertion, that corporations of the future will need a small "Core" of permanent, virtually un-dismissable key personnel who are guaranteed lifetime employment and a cozy retirement in exchange for becoming guardians of the corporations culture and reason for being. It is in this section that he also makes what I believe is his most useful contribution, defining the role and behavior of "Competence Aggregators" as key, (but non-"Core") personnel that all companies will need in order to survive and thrive.

"Part 4 - Running the Protean Corporation" is basically a narrated thought experiment to actually walk through how such a corporation might reasonably be expected to behave - warts an all. Herein, the notion of how to measure "Intellectual Capital" is introduced "out of left field" having not been developed earlier in the book. Malone also begins opining about non-profit corporations, government, human behavior, and other topics not elucidated with the same scientific precision demonstrated in the first half of the book - thus, the reader begins to sense that "the wheels are falling off" from a stylistic point of view - good scholarship begins to devolve into mere opinion and a staccato list of interesting but not always relevant side-topics.

Finally, "Part 5 - The Protean Society" is basically Malone's "Mom and apple pie" attempt to bring together the loose threads that began systematically in Parts 1-3 and ended somewhat sloppily in Part 4. He does yeoman's work here trying to reunite his many and varied themes, but the reader can't help but imagine that the book was 'rushed' to the printing press after presumably bringing in Parts 1-3 at high quality but perhaps behind schedule. (?)

Interestingly, I found the greatest value of the book not to be any particular idea or theme, but rather, the 'meta-theme' of how Malones ideas were inter-mingled and brought together to paint a picture of how corporations might likely evolve. While I would guess that only 10% of the ideas in the book are truly "novel", I found Malone's *perspective* to be the most enlightening and beneficial aspect of the book - it is the 'lens' through which he views the evolution of the corporation that makes the book worth its cover price.

In the end, despite its not always being a fluid or well-argued read, Malone's "The Future Arrived Yesterday" should be read by any business person who has a stake in where corporations have been, and more importantly, where they may be headed.

This book takes an excellent look at the way Web 2.0 technologies will impact the modern organization. Malone traces back the history of corporate organizations, and the different technological factors which drove change in their ultimate structure.

His main thesis is that corporations are necessary, even as new technologies which make it easier for individuals to collaborate emerge, because they maintain a cultural base upon which the rest of the business can be built. As a result, the corporation of the future will have a small group of "core" employees, whose job is to maintain the culture of the organization, surrounded by a "cloud" of free-wheeling, free-lancing part time workers and contractors who engage with the corporation on an as needed basis.

As a student and young-adult engaged with new technology, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.