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4 Comments to “Can Corporate Jets Help Aircraft Carriers Adapt to the Social Web?”

1. January 5th, 2010 at 9:07 am
   Alasdair Munn said

   Fantastic how you get peoples brains to whirl. I think our pre-occupation with scale fits in to this. Our industrial and corporate training teaches us to scale up universally.
   From a command and control point of view it is important to control the inputs in order to control the outputs. Scaling up allows an organization to reach economies, streamline operations and ultimately control processes. This works ok in situations where resources are infinite or at the very least not scarce. It also assumes that the outputs are universally demanded and relevant. We are increasingly finding that resources are scarce, people are searching against need and objectives and new markets are organizing themselves differently.

   Scale in this form is no longer the universal truth. Through opening up the process , each contributor is able to use what has been built so far and add to it in a way that makes it relevant to their needs, objectives, resources, experience, context and knowledge. The scale element comes from sharing and building upon existing knowledge through an open model. In simple terms this equates to taking the elements that work successfully within a general framework and applying those while changing specific elements that relate to context, resources, needs, learning styles and so on.

   So in terms of what you are saying Liz, a common set of objectives and end goals does not equate to a universal or blanket approach. Each corporate jet works within the objectives and goals of the carrier but also work within their resources to effect strategies and structures that are locally and contextually resourced, but universally relevant.

2. January 5th, 2010 at 11:54 am
   Ben Curnett said

   Hi Liz. Your second bullet, “corporations have more to lose” and its supporting points, is precisely why so many big companies suck at social media.

   Here’s a corporate jet: Let the employees that you trust to answer email, call customers, sell your services, and talk about you to their colleagues have the freedom to talk about you using social media.

   What corporations will find is that the jet has a culture all its own, one that’s better for flying than the culture on the aircraft carrier. The pilots are smart (that’s why you hired them). They don’t script every move. They improvise, and make the whole operation better.

   Because a lot of the best of social media is done… um… on the fly

3. January 5th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
   Can Corporate Jets Help Aircraft Carriers Adapt to the Social Web … » bookmarking said

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4. January 5th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
   ME Liz Strauss said

   Ben,
   I was wondering whether anyone would take the challenge. And you came back with a brilliant response. Awesome.
   Let the jet go improvise. and make the whole operation better. Because a lot of the best of social media is done… um… on the fly
   I think this could be a campaign for social media!!