Shift Perspectives. A Publication “Endorsed by Futurelab”.

by Alain Thys on 9 November, 2009 - 16:55

These are exciting times. Sure, we have a recession, and there is the looming threat of inflation, unemployment and further value destruction. But all these clouds are also lined with opportunity. The opportunity to change the way we work. To set things right.

After all, people only change when they “have to”. And from a business perspective, this is the case. In many companies, doing more of the same is not an option any more. While this poses challenges, it also allows shedding the bad practices that have accumulated over the past two decades. The mindless shout and sell communication efforts. The customer-toxic practices.  The often uninspiring types of innovation which shun breakthrough risk to the benefit of play-it-safe-incrementalism.

So for me, and for Futurelab, these are great times. After all, beyond helping our clients, we are on a mission to change the nature of marketing itself. We want to bring the profession back to its roots by focusing on the customer, the bottom line and breakthrough innovations that truly differentiate company. We want to make marketing an all-company sport. Get finance, logistics, sales, production, HR and yes even the marketing department to do what is right for the business and for the customer, rather than what their silos dictate. 

But we cannot do this alone. In fact, no one can. For marketing to regain its position as a truly meaningful profession, it needs to step away from the centralist knowledge paradigm. Here, a number of smart people hold all knowledge and disseminate this to those less literate. They often call themselves professors, thought leaders, strategists or even gurus.

Yet if there is one thing we've learned from this recession, is that no one holds all the wisdom. The world as we know it has become unpredictable, and anyone claiming to have all the answers is simply not being truthful.

That is why we have started to look for initiatives from people that get it. Individuals whose thinking and actions we can help amplify with the means we have available. You are currently looking at one of them.

http://futurelab.net/emagazine

Launched by Bogdan Meica & Stefan Moghina, Shift Perspectives  is a digital publication that transfers on to 30 pages what we attempt to do on the Futurelab blog. Bring together the thinking of some of the sharpest minds in marketing, strategy and innovation into one thought-provoking piece.

I have to say, they did it quite well. From Seth Godin to Tom Anderson they brought together global thinkers who understand that a project by two young people in Romania can have the same value than the journal of a prestigious business school.

To ensure it also has the same reach, I am proud that they asked Futurelab to endorse their initiative and help launch it to world. This we gladly do. Because it is people like Bogdan and Stefan that are the real change agents of the marketing revolution.