Customer Reviews

The Weightless Society

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is written from an amazingly human perspective. It provides a view of how as a society, we are on a rocket ship ride with knowledge as our fuel. We and our children will not have to toil in coal mines or risk life and limb on factory floors. We will thrive on creativity, ingenuity and imagination. But instead of feeling more in control, we are feeling a collective anxiety, less control, more uncertain. We feel ludicrously certain (about scientific advances in the mapping of our genetic structure) and beset by doubt (about a welfare system that cannot ensure housing and healthcare for our citizens). Much of this has to do with a lack of self reliance and a need to trust (that computers will work, that brands will keep their promises, that doctors will be healers and not business moguls...)

Consider this passage for just a moment...

"Collaboration is the driving force behind creativity. Learning, one of the most basic activities in the knowledge economy, is an essentially social activity: we learn with others and through others. Social capital is vital to generate trust and to allow people to take risks. It is through the networks of relationship that underlie social capital that people learn of new ideas and make new contacts. Social capital is not a socially conscious add-on to the market-driven economy; social capital is essential to its working."

Charles Leadbeater has given us a thoughtful and considered look at how the rules of our economy have radically shifted and so therefore too must the rules of our social and ecological infrastrucuture. The economy cannot sustain this rocket-like pace without careful consideration of how we will support the people, all people, in our society.

The book is written from an amazingly human perspective. It provides a view of how as a society, we are on a rocket ship ride with knowledge as our fuel. We and our children will not have to toil in coal mines or risk life and limb on factory floors. We will thrive on creativity, ingenuity and imagination. But instead of feeling more in control, we are feeling a collective anxiety, less control, more uncertain. We feel ludicrously certain (about scientific advances in the mapping of our genetic structure) and beset by doubt (about a welfare system that cannot ensure housing and healthcare for our citizens). Much of this has to do with a lack of self reliance and a need to trust (that computers will work, that brands will keep their promises, that doctors will be healers and not business moguls...)

Consider this passage for just a moment...

"Collaboration is the driving force behind creativity. Learning, one of the most basic activities in the knowledge economy, is an essentially social activity: we learn with others and through others. Social capital if vital to generate trust and to allow people to take risks. It is through the networks of relationship that underlie social capital that people learn of new ideas and make new contacts. Social capital is not a socially conscious add-on to the market-driven economy; social capital is essential to its working."

This is only the beginning. The book held my attention till the very last page. I only hope our business and political leaders take the time to read this. You should too!

Recently I overheard a clueless manager of a local enterprise say that the reason the United States is losing jobs is that services don't create wealth, only manufacturing does. Wrong, our current economy (at least in developed countries) is very much knowledge driven.

According to Leadbeater, "most developed countries make money out of thin air: We produce nothing that can be weighed, touched, or easily measured." Think about that for a minute and it'll be as bright as day. Internet services, telephone calls, accounting and legal advice are all examples of modern economic products that are weightless. According to the author, many products are weightless because they're comprised of service, judgment, information, and analysis. As an example, think about something as simple as cell phone ring tones on which consumers worldwide spent $3.5 billion in 2003.

Charles Leadbeater has given us a thoughtful and considered look at how the rules of our economy have radically shifted. Consider that the knowledge-creating company of the future will need to embrace eight principles:

1) Cellular Structure
2) Self-Management (especially important to motivated, educated, and ambitious professionals)
3) Entrepreneurship
4) Equity Pay and Membership
5) Deep Knowledge Reservoirs
6) Integration
7) The Holistic Company
8) Collaborative Leadership

"Collaboration is the driving force behind creativity. Learning, one of the most basic activities in the knowledge economy, is an essentially social activity: we learn with others and through others..."

All in all, The Weightless Society will certainly stimulate your thinking. For technology entrepreneurs, pay special attention to the information throughout the book on dematerialization because the new economy is driven by information. Ultimately we will continue to create more and more with less energy and material.

Michael Davis - Editor, Byvation

In a world where too many business books suggest that there are 12 rules or 5 steps to the solution for every problem, it is refreshing to read a book that actually expects the reader to do some of the work. This book is provocative. It challenges conventional wisdom. It asks the reader to think rather than memorize.

If you are the least bit predisposed to thinking that our current social and economic systems require massive overhaul rather than minor revisions, this book will allow you to argue that belief far more eloquently.

One thing you can believe is that this book represents a clear,
crisp high view of how the knowledge economy has social implications.
I found the book to be a useful addition to my collection. The book
is not a nitty-gritty knowledge management or knowledge capital book.
For that go to Stewart's "Intellectual Capital" or Nonaka
& Takeuchi's "Knowledge Creating Company." But for a
solid overview of the Knowledge Economy this is a great book. Part 1
& 2 succeeds in overviewing the shift to a knowledge perspective
at the company level giving some rich and original metaphors and
examples. Part three has some excellent new perspectives on networks
& intelligent regions. Part four on the Societial implications of
a knowledge economy also plow some new ground, tho some of his
arguments are pretty thin and a tad to US conservative for my
political bent. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone
wanting a big picture, especially those who have grown tired of the
trite "10 steps" approach to knowledge management and
retreaded announcements that "we are in a new Knowledge era"
that seems common to this genre.

It could only have come from the Nanny State. Don't understand the global financial markets? We'd best regulate them back to the days of Bretton Woods. Crowded cities? Invest in public transportation. Education in disarray? More public funds to the decaying public education machine. Afraid of private industry being granted patents on genetic sequences? Public ownership is the obvious answer.

The difference here is only one of accent. The author begrudgingly and with apparent difficulty admits that the private sector does play a leading role in economic growth and technological innovation. Words like "greed" and phrases like "filthy rich" abound. It's clear that the author is uncomfortable with the private sector's victory over the Left. He does his best to use the word entrepreneur without gritting his teeth. He is simply ideologically unable to recognize that the real engine of growth and innovation is the motive of individual gain. I got the distinct impression that the author learned just enough about business and technology from his work as a business journalist to obtain the jargon without really understanding what he's talking about. Perhaps this is why journalists shouldn't hurt themselves attempting to explain economics.

This book was about five years out of date at the time it was published. If you've read any of the recent work of the leading futurists, this book will be entirely rudimentary to you. The author is still filled with wonder that he can work from home with a laptop and free-lance his skills on the open market. This has been a way of life for some of us for years.

When dealing with world-changing technologies in genetics and information processing, the author really didn't have a grasp of what he was writing about. It read more like regurgitated columns from a Sunday newspaper than like a serious student's musings on technology's impact on the global economy.

As an apology for the failures of the public sector in the new economy and as re-assurance to the defeated Left that there remains a role for the Nanny State, this book will be a success. Anyone who is already living and working in the new economy needn't waste their time reading what they already know.

If Tony Blair really is taking advice from this guy, heaven help Britain. It's a day late and a Euro short.