50 years of me

It's my birthday today. My 50th. I know lots of people do their review of the year or predictions on December 31. I'm going to have more of a wander down memory lane. 50 years makes you pause and reflect. Those of a certain age may enjoy the reminiscences...

Change is the constant of the last 50 years of course. Isn't it? I wonder if in fact it may have been a story of massive technological change in the very earliest years of my life followed by a frenzeid four decades of commercialisation of that technology.

In the first five years of my life we put a man on the moon, the first supersonic commercial jet liner took off for the first time (a feat NASA scientists regarded as a greater technical achievement) and the first two nodes of the internet were connected.

Actually all of these things happened  in 1969.

Compare this with the life of ordinary folk. I went to school, aged 4 and a bit, probably in 1970. Occasionally we would all be called outside to watch as Concorde flew on test from the relatively nearby RAE Thurleigh (I grew up in Bedfordshire, UK). Hi-tech huh? Inside we had blackboards and chalk. Even in my junior school the desks retained the holes where inkwells used to be held.

While I studied for an O-level in Computer Studies (writing code, in BASIC) the only time I saw a computer at school was in those o-level lessons (around 1980-82). We had the first rubber keyboard Spectrums.

At university I typed not on a word processor, but on a manual typewriter. It wasn't even electric.Research meant the library.

I owned a home pc before I got exposed to one at work. Mine was a Spectrum. ZX-82 (please correct me) I think - proper keyboard, playing games loaded by cassette player. Copying was easy.

I worked in media and over the course of a decade we moved from typing on three layers of paper separated by carbon paper (to create copies) to Macs with the power of 'super computers'. Lots of folks lost their jobs.

By then (early 90s) the internet was becoming a thing. I got internet access at home before I did at work. But boy was it slow. Even so, internet banking seemed infinitely preferable to the High Street alternative. In the next month or so I'll be taking delivery of a new broadband offering up to 500mb. Back then I had 512kb.

This past Christmas my guestimate is that 90% of my spend was online.

When I was born, the second world war was just 20 years behind us. We were reaping the technological peace dividend.

But since 1969 what giant leaps for mankind have we made?

Put it like that and smartphones and tablets can be easily dismissed as ways of commercialising the internet.

Medical advances have been spectacular - but we are only generally exposed to these when they become a matter of life and death to our nearest and dearest. We don't have a cure for cancer, nor for many other diseases.

And most painfully of all, despite the massive resources we have accumulated, the brilliant minds we are capable of connecting, we have not solved the problem of poverty. All the data suggests that, even in developed countries, the gap between rich and poor is growing.

The gap between the rich and poor can be illustrated by the fact that the three wealthiest individuals in the world have assets that exceed those of the poorest 10 percent of the world's population.

The fact that inequality exists between nations is seen in the statistic that the world's wealthiest countries have just 13% of the world's population but 45% of its purchasing power; the poorest nations have 42% of the world's population and 9% of its purchasing power.

Source: Boundless. “Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor.” Boundless Sociology. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 31 Dec. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/stratification-inequality-and-social-class-in-the-u-s-9/social-mobility-76/growing-gap-between-rich-and-poor-450-2081/
Our great technological leaps have given many of us significantly better, more connected, healthier, wealthier lives. That has been the great achievement of the last 50 years.

1969 showed us the way: Neil Armstrong's pictures of the Earth showed us we share a world. The internet allowed us to make that connection real. 1969 gave us the tools. Perhaps 2016 could be a new dawn of intention?

So my birthday wish is that the next 50 years are focused on making significantly better, more connected, healthier, wealthier (and happier) lives for ALL of us.

Have a great New Year.

Open Business: Three-page focus in Cambridge Business Magazine

From the April 2014 issue of 

Cambridge Business Magazine

Cambridge Business Magazine published a three-page interview with me about The 10 Principles of Open Business in its April 2014 issue out now.
The print version is subscription only but anyone can view, download or save the e-magazine version here.
The article starts on p58. It's flash so no use for apple devices I'm afraid.

10 Principles of Open Business launches in London

Last night I was delighted to host a gathering of friends, supporters and influencers, most of whom had been involved one way or another in shaping the output of my last seven years of work - a book.

The 10 Principles of Open Business is the result of a great deal of collaboration, of shared thinking, of wise counsel and challenge. But it struck me that while I knew all of the people involved in my journey, few knew each other.

Yes I wanted to celebrate the launch of a book, and yes it was great that we even sold some copies at the event, but the most important thing for me was that those who came got to meet each other and spend some time talking to each other.

I hope everyone gained from it. I'd like to thank the folk at Grey London and colleagues at The Social Partners for providing the venue - and everyone who showed up, naturally.

The pics above are from Stephen Waddington's instagram. I'll try to gather up a few more to add as I come across them or they get shared directly with me.

CrossTalk: Join the debate on social media and the news

I'm taking part in the latest recording of CrossTalk today - Russia Today's flarogram.
For those unfamiliar, RT (as it's now know) is an English language rolling news channel. In fact its the third most viewed rolling news channel in the UK (after the BBC and Sky) with around 2.5m viewers in the second half of last year.

The show I'm joining brings together "politicians, journalists, scientists and decision-makers of all sorts – anyone who influences the decisions changing our world or plays a key role in forming public opinion" for American journalist Peter Lavelle to challenge with the days hard questions.

The theme (I'm told) is social media and the news agenda - and is likely to look at the challenge of validation in a world in which we all get to publish.
It's a challenge we also consider in The 10 Principles of Open Business in an interview with the editor of the Guardian Alan Rusbridger.

So this should prove timely since the book is due out in just a few days now (January 28, 2014).
If you're interested in watching, you'll find RT on Freeview, Sky and BT Vision (in the UK).

It is currently due for broadcast on FRIDAY 17 January 2014 at UK times) 7:30am, 1:30pm, 7:30pm and 10:30pm .

This link will tell you where to watch where-ever you are in the world: http://rt.com/where-to-watch/
I'll also have video links to share once its been broadcast. Hope you'll try to catch it and join in the discussion after either here or by commenting on the RT.com site.

Video: How Open Business is shaping the 21st Century Org

If you couldn't make it in person, and were tied up while it was broadcast, yesterday's panel 'Open Business - 21st Century Organisations' is now archived and ready to watch at your leisure.
I do a short intro and then fire the questions at a stellar line-up:

Mark Earls (Author of  Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature, I'll Have What She's Having, and Welcome to the Creative Age – Bananas, Business and the Death of Marketing). Mark is also winner of an Emerald Insights Award and a significant contributor to the chapter on Purpose in The 10 Principles of Open Business,
Andrew Hill: Associate Editor and Management Editor of the Financial Times.
Dave Coplin (Author of business bestseller “Business Reimagined: Why work isn’t working and what you can do about it” also joins us. He is Chief Envisioning Officer at Microsoft & The Envisioners).
Chris Hirst, CEO of Grey (London) Since his appointment as CEO in Jan 2010 Grey London has been the fastest growing large agency in London driven through significant new business success, strong organic growth and acquisition. Grey (London)'s success is built on Open Culture.
Dorothy Mead (Commerce innovator. Head of Marketing at Blur Group)



I've also been urging people to take a look at the result of latest research commissioned by The Social Partners (where I work). The video below has founder Ivan Palmer taking us through them.
Highly recommended particularly if you're ready to start making your social marketing something ROI can really be comfortable with.

The fifth Principle of Open Business: Connectedness

Today - over at 90:10 Group - we've published the sixth post in our series on The 10 Principles of Open Business.

Principle Five is Connectedness.

Again, this is not a tactic - it's a design principle:

Connecting all employees internally to one another and externally through open social media

We've learned through experience that simply buying tools is not enough. Ever heard the expression: All The Gear But No Idea? That's where so many organisations find themselves having been sold on the tech - convinced by slick sales folk that there really is a button you can click to make you 'social'.

Sure, you need the gear. But first, get the idea. I guarantee you'll make better selections of the gear as a result.

Here's an excerpt. For the full post visit 9010Group.com.

"Rather than working against connectedness (usually out of fear), work with it. You’ll be working in the same direction as your teams.
Without our daily connectedness to others our ideas remain un-nurtured and un-tested, our understanding of the realities of the eco-system within which we all live, severely limited.

This eco-system, this market, is not something you can take a snapshot of once a year, it is ever changing, something you are part of and which must be listened and responded to in as close to real time as possible if you are to maintain a best possible fit with its needs.
Connectedness is an essential part of this. Connectedness scales the organisation’s ability to listen, respond and adapt to the market.

Connectedness provides an early warning system for changing need, for rising dissatisfaction, for new competitors.

But beyond all of this, connectedness humanises a businesses. It allows your customers and other stakeholders to interact with the living, breathing, passionate, caring people on whom your business depends. It takes down the walls."

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Truth and Trust in Social Media - report from the SMWLDN panel

Social Media Week London kicked off (for me at least) at 8:30am on Monday morning. That's when I joined with fellow panelists Jenny Afia – Schillings, Guy Stephens – CapGemini, Euan Semple  and Benjamin Ellis - Redcatco / Socialoptics at Like Minds opening event.
The topic at hand (to which I was afforded the luxury of providing the introductory scene and context setter) was Truth and Trust and why what you do matters in social media.
Thanks to all those who joined in from outside the room via the #smwldn or #likeminds hashtags on twitter.
I'm back at the same venue (Adam Street Club - just off the Strand in London) on Friday at 4pm for the final Like Minds event of the week on the future of being social.
In the meantime it's good to see Monday's early morning session was covered by way of a live blog - so if you missed it you can catch the summary here.

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The 10 Principles of Open Business

10 Principles of Open Business - 9010 group from 90:10 Group

Regular readers know my day job at 90:10 Group focuses on delivering Open Business. After 3 years of doing so with large organisations across EMEA, co-founder Jamie Burke and I have concluded there are 10 Principles of Open Business.

An Open Business is one which uses its available resources to discover people who care about the same Purpose it does, brings those people together and joins with them to achieve that Purpose.
It is designed from the outset to scale through participation. It makes partners of customers.

Over the next few weeks we'll build on this to define the 10 Principles of Open Business and share case studies demonstrating the success of each Principle in practice. We’ll set a ‘Goal State’ as the ideal outcome and describe the ‘Worst Case’ position – to enable you to benchmark your organisation’s progress towards each Goal States.

To read the first post in the series visit 9010Group.com.

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• Why Trust Matters - Improving Organisational Performance

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• The Principles of Open Business: Principle 1 - Purpose
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Brand Anarchy - a book launch I really should have been at

I failed to show up at a book launch last night. I had a school governors meeting (on data) I needed to be at.
It's not that unusual for me to fail to turn up for something I've been invited to, to be fair. It was only when I realised the content of Stephen Waddington and Steve Earl's Brand Anarchy that I realised I really should have made more of an effort.
Stephen (@wadds) had been kind enough to interview me for the book some months back. And the guys have been even kinder in listing myself alongside a very impressive line up in the Amazon blurb:
"As the media landscape looks increasingly diverse and anarchic,
individuals, organisations and governments should not waste time
wondering whether they have lost control of their reputations. The
simple fact is that they have never had control. The question is what
they can do about it now, and what they need to consider for the future.
"The fragmentation of media and the rise of social media has brought
brand and personal reputational risk into sharp focus like never before.
Disaffected shareholders, customers and staff are voicing their
opinions to a global internet audience. In a brand context it is
reputation anarchy.
"In Brand Anarchy, Steve Earl and Stephen Waddington draw on insight
from opinion-makers and shapers such as Greg Dyke, Alastair Campbell,
Seth Godin, David Cushman and Philip Sheldrake to explore how
reputations can be better managed and the new challenges that the future
of media may bring.
"...This plain-speaking, shrewd book pulls no punches. Its a
survival guide for anyone concerned what others think or say about
them."
So, of course, I'm going to suggest you buy a copy - it has generous helpings of me on Open Business! (Wadds has promised to send me one). If you're tempted, move fast. The first run has already sold out and a 2nd run of 10,000 is on its way. Go guys!
Buy the book.

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FasterFuture is regularly updated by David Cushman

Video: Webciety CeBIT keynote: How the web changes the organisation of business

For those of you who weren't at Webciety at CeBIT, Hannover, Germany on Thursday March 8, or weren't able to catch the live webcast of my keynote when it was first broadcast, a recording is now available.



The video lasts almost an hour which includes introduction, my keynote and a panel discussion of the themes it outlines. In summary it explores how the future isn't digital, it is self-organised, how and why the web powers disruption based on this and explores the role of the organisation in a world in which we can organise for ourselves more cheaply and effectively than ever before. It also recognises the challenge of 3D printing in this context - how this reveals where the means of production have always resided and what this tells us about the key tasks that must be taken on by the org of the future.

I've expanded a few more thoughts, specifically in relation to 'Loose Ties and Sufficient Organisation', which are detailed in my blogpost of Saturday March 10, 2012.

I have also updated the slides on slideshare to those I finally presented. I hope you find them useful.

How the web changes the organisation of business and the business of organisation

View more presentations from david cushman.

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Social Media as philosophy and other developments in social software...

Lisa Devaney's post on TheWall 'Stop Dumping Social Media On Your PR' seems to have earned me a rash of new Twitter followers (thanks to her very generous inclusion of some of my thoughts).
I'll quote a hefty chunk below - since it's so flattering.

As social media has grown over these last five years, I’ve watched several people really embrace the emergent sector and turn it into a profession. Some of these folks I know are getting the tossed around label of social media “gurus” which makes you wary that what they are offering is a new kind of mysterious snake oil. However, it is time to get to know these experts and take the knowledge they have developed seriously.

David Cushman (@davidcushman) is one of the big thinkers in the social media space, who, following nearly two decades of experience working with emap, set out on his own with passion and enthusiasm, and a spark of genius to devote himself to social media. He is now a managing director at the 90:10 Group, offering the kind of deep thinking counsel client’s need to approach social media. I asked David about his approach to social media and for some tips and tricks that might help PRs and clients get their head around it all.

“Our approach is to think consultancy – to get out of the way as much as possible. We use the tools and techniques of social media to solve business problems – creating new efficiencies by working with the crowd (hence the 90:10 name – 90% of the effort coming from outside the org, 10% inside),” he told me.
“Ultimately this social stuff is, like the web, for making things with people who care about the outcomes – rather than broadcasting messages through.”

David offers this advice in approaching social media:

• Social media is not a set of tools or channels – it’s a philosophical approach.
• It is not an innovation in and of itself.
• The innovation and the true value derives from the application of its tools and techniques to support people in solving problems that matter to them

Five years ago, there wasn’t the kind of choices of experts and agencies available, but now, the social media sector is booming and it is time to call on leaders like Maz or David to take a smart approach to what is proving to be the most important channel of influence between a brand and its public. Reputations are being made and destroyed, sometimes in a matter of days in social media, and to just dump such a crucial responsibility onto overworked account executives is a recipe for disaster."

So thanks very much for that Lisa. And if Lisa thinks I understand the space and have a few reasonably wise things to say about it, then all I can say is, it takes one to know one.
While I'm on big-up-me Friday, I also received a copy of a book today which includes a chapter from myself - based on the presentation I gave at BlogTalk in Cork in 2008. I have John Breslin to thank for my involvement in this project.
The book is titled: Recent Trends and Developments in Social Software.
My chapter is: "Reed's Law and How Multiple Identities Make the Long Tail Just That Little Bit Longer."
It's available on Amazon (Prime and Kindle) but the price is on the scary side (and nothing to do with me - honest). At £40-plus those with a clear academic interest in the area - and a good grasp of the tech - are likeliest to get best value from it.

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Breakfast in London, Manchester and Leeds

E-Consultancy have signed me (and 90:10 Group) up for a UK mini-tour in November this year. This consists of breakfast briefings in London, Manchester and Leeds.

They offer an opportunity for me to spread the word about the real value of social media - the bit that's less about messaging and more about innovation. For the full outline, see below.

If you'd like to be at any of them use the following links to sign up:

• London November 2, 2010
• Manchester November 10, 2010
• Leeds November 11, 2010

Social media offers much more than an opportunity to ‘reach new audiences’. It offers powerful new efficiencies, better fit marketing, products and services your customers demand and care about – and new business models.

It can’t be layered on to your current strategies. Better-than-ever-connection with stakeholders (customers; potential customers; suppliers; employees; and anyone who cares about achieving what you have set out to achieve) places social media at the heart of what you do.

It creates disruption and opportunity in equal measure. These breakfast briefings will identify who is taking advantage – and how you can, too.

Areas for discussion include:

Location Based Services: 90:10 Group has researched the impact of LBS in social media. We’ll answer which brands are having success with FourSquare, Yelp and Gowalla and whether there is scale for LBS to matter to enough of your customers in the UK and beyond.

How innovation must shift from making better messages to making better things:
We’ll address how using the tools and techniques of social media delivers the ROI of better things, more fit for those they are intended for and how those better things come pre-loaded with the peer-to-peer power of the advocates who helped make them.

Scaling co-creation:
Bringing people together to share ideas and inspire creativity is nothing new. The scale and affordability delivered through social media is. What does this mean for everything from Marcomms planning to customer service, New Product Development to sales?

Innovation in the org:
Those who take a few steps into social media soon discover that old silos and ways of organising fail. What is CRM is PR is Customer Service is NPD and R&D.
We’ll make the case for change in the way organisations should organise and how they should now define their role as platform organisations.
Based on the forthcoming book: Platform thinking: How social media changes the organisation of business and the business of organisation.

All of this will be supported with case studies and data to take us from the theory to the practice.

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Video: My presentation at Social Media In Business

Here's the presentation I made at Social Media In Business (#SMIB10) at eBay/Paypal's uk HQ late last month.
Thanks to SMIB for giving me the platform. (update - video is now available to view!)

You'll also find the slides I presented to, below.

Untitled from SMIB EVENTS on Vimeo.

And here's the slides...

Using + social media = fail (smib)

View more presentations from david cushman.

All feedback very welcome!

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Video: My presentation at Being Social 2010

The Death of Advertising- and what replaces it - in 7mins! Yep, it's me doing my bit at Mashup's BeingSocial - held in London on May 13, 2010.

davidcushman 2 from Simon Grice on Vimeo.

Here's the full deck of slides I was presenting to (somewhat edited for the timeframe allowed).

View the rest of the videos from the event here.

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Time to end the failed experiment of advertising

As promised, here's the slidedeck Jamie Burke and I presented in Madrid last week. By way of disclosure we were in Madrid for the official launch of 90:10 Spain - and took the opportunity to present our thinking at the OMEXPO.

The slides ask the question, if advertising didn't exist today, would you reinvent it? We think too much digital tech, innovation and effort has been focused on making a better message when what is better for all parties is that we should work together on making better things.Platform thinking that delivers value innovation.

It's time time to end the insanity of repeating the failed experiment of advertising. Time to start creating platforms for change.

Video will follow later this week...

The Death Of Advertising: Omexpo Madrid 2010

View more presentations from david cushman.

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Video and slides: A new era for specialist media

As promised, here's the video of me presenting my keynote on 'A New Era For Specialist Media' at SIPA 09 (Online Marketing and Publishing Summit) in London, last week.
It's shot on a flipcam - and mangled to add to vimeo (at sub 500mb for almost an hour of video) so don't expect a TV experience!

Topics covered:
• Why the internet-powered long tail of demand is a disaster for traditional broad mass media models but a huge opportunity for specialists
• How fragmentation means you can never hope to target all emerging niche communities - and what you can do to counter that
• Why the control of content production, distribution and user experience is now in the hands of everyone - and what that means for publishers
• Why we need to think of specialist content as 'social objects' to discover where the ROI will come from when nobody wants to pay for content and no one clicks on the ads.

You can download a WMV version here. The link is bottom, right of that page.

Below the video I've placed the slideshare slides, so you can play click-along-a-david if you choose.
Thoughts and comments all welcome.

A new era for specialist media from david cushman on Vimeo.

A new era for specialist media

View more presentations from david cushman.

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Resources: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Social Media...

As promised to those attending Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Social Media But Were Afraid to Ask, here's the slidedeck I spoke to. Listed below the slides are some of my white papers which you may be interested in for further reading.

In both the case of the whitepapers and of my book (The Power of the Network) you'll find references to further reading you may enjoy.

There's a video of me speaking on similar themes at a previous event, too.

I mentioned GoogleWave on Friday. To learn more about that in 7 mins - watch the relevant video below.

I really enjoyed the session and appreciate all feedback and suggestions on what we may focus on next time around?

And finally, the Amazon widget I've also included (the carousel thingy) shows my current 10 books I'm recommending.

Dive in and enjoy!

UPDATE: 12:15pm Oct 05, 09. Slideshare just dropped me an email to tell me the deck below is "being tweeted more than any other document on SlideShare right now. So we've put it on the homepage of SlideShare.net (in the "Hot on Twitter" section)." Cool!

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know Aboout Social Media

View more presentations from david cushman.

More of my slidedecks:
http://www.slideshare.net/davidcushman

My White Papers:

• Media Transformative
• Communities of purpose are the business units of the 21st century
• Marketing and Advertising Models for a Networked World
• Don't Just Witness the Network: Be Part of It
• Reed's Law and how multiple identities make the long tail a little longer
• The Power of the Network = The Power of We: Why Media Is The New Business Ecology

Speaking at Winning With Social Media

David Cushman - "Setting the social media scene & Adapting brands to the networked world" from Brando Social on Vimeo.

Googlewave explained - by the people who made it:


Great further reading:


Hope that offers a little to be going on with :-)

Everything you ever wanted to know about social media but were afraid to ask...

I'm running a seminar 'Everything you ever wanted to know about social media but were afraid to ask' in my home town, Huntingdon, Cambs on October 2, 2009.
If you know someone who may benefit; please pass it on.
You can book a ticket below.

Here's the blurb:

Social media unlocks new efficiencies for every form of business and organisation, from new product development to new forms of marketing.
And with 50% of people's time spent with media now spent participating in social media - from text to Twitter and email to Facebook, no business can afford to ignore its impact.
This short seminar is designed to fit in the lives of busy people and provide a rapid and clear explanation of what social media is and how its arrival and widespread use is creating powerful new disruptive forces your organisation can choose to be part of and benefit from.
Led by David Cushman, blogger, author of The Power of the Network, 20-year media veteran, Director of Social Media at London-based social media agency Brando Social, and independant consultant, the seminar will equip you to act and includes ample time for Q&A to help you towards specific solutions for your needs.
David is widely respected for his thinking on social media and in demand to speak about the impact of social media at conferences across the world, from New York to San Francisco and Cork to Cannes.
To attend those kinds of conferences you'd usually have to travel and expect to pay hundreds, sometimes thousands of pounds for a ticket.
This then is a rare opportunity to learn from a global authority in your own backyard and at a low cost - and all delivered in one short morning.
David Cushman has worked with and advised organisations including media companies emap/Bauer Media, advertising agencies Grey (London) and RIOT/180 (Amsterdam) MCBD and Digitas, start-ups including ThirdeyeT, retail organisations including Anglia Regional Co-op, brands such as Honda, Sony-Ericsson, and Gatwick Airport and governmental organisations including CWDC and the UKBA.
He is a Trustee of national charity CitizensOnline.org

THREE jobs up for grabs at social media agency

Pleased to say we're scaling up to meet demand at Brando Social (the full service social media agency I work at four days a week).
So if you fancy joining a growing company in a growing sector, we've got a couple of roles right now:
1. We need a web 2.0-savvvy Tech Project Manager to start NOW. Good if you can program some too.

2. Account Manager. Ideally you have 3 + yrs exp (some digital). You're great at managing relationships with clients and you're hungry to learn about social media (if you happen to know loads already, that's great too).
3. Junior Researcher. You're currently working or have worked at a market research organisation or similar and have 1-2 years experience.

If you're interested in any of these roles drop MD Jamie Burke a line (cc me).

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Winning With Social Media: The highlights

Here (finally) are the edited highlights of Brando Social's Winning With Social Media event.
If it whets your appetite, you can see videos and slidedecks from the whole event right here.

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