More Than Twenty Words: So Much Potential......yet....
>>How can a company with so much potential have such a boring stock performance?>>
harmonaronson:
It's very simple.
Novell's current management is NOT creating energy.
Novell's current management is NOT creating light.
Novell is consuming/taking energy.
Novell is consuming/taking light.
I'm not writing this to be negative. I'm making a positive judgement which attempts to shine some light in the hope that others will "see" some value in what I'm sharing. Some individuals in Novell's current management just don't "get" this new game. For the Internet is all about ONE thing: ENERGY.
But the world in general is very confused about just what kind of ENERGY we're talking about.
Let's walk through the pieces of this puzzle.
The Internet is fission ENERGY - the energy we get from the sun which we all survive on from day to day. Fission energy is self-fulfilling - ie. it grows, empowers, uplifts, etc. Service becomes primary. Service supports, builds and enhances trust.
The Internet is transforming the world for it has the same effect of turning a light one where there was once darkness. Individuals are getting access to information which used to be unavailable. Individuals are learning the value of sharing information and data with others which grows the knowledge pie. Individually and collectively, we are relearning these new/old values of trust, risk, collaboration, communication and cooperation.
Now let's focus on trust.
I'll argue that when I place my trust in something and disclose it to the world, it's no different than placing a $1000 bill in the middle of the table and watching what happens. For money is nothing more nor less than anonymous trust.
Now there are only two things others can do in this situation. People can either join in by sharing information which honors, affirms, loops back and enhances this trust - ie. they will ignore the money and concentrate on the trust and value which I represent. Or, they can decide not to share information which honors, affirms, loops back and enhances this trust. Just like taking a $1000 bill that's laid right smack on the table, the vast majority of the people in this world will use the information/ideas and energy which comes from this extension of trust and use it for their own benefit. If you use the extreme $1000 bill example I'm not saying the vast majority of people would be stupid enough to try to steal it, but when you get into the realm of trusting people with your openness this is a completely different story. There is nothing anyone can do to stop someone from abusing your time and trust and simply taking the information or what it shared for their own personal benefit.
But in this New Age, if you want to play the game of life and become a leader you must learn the value of trust and risk losing all everyday. All these wild, "out there" and crazy ideas, thoughts and energies are simply examples of risk being taken which are not loaded with any expectational condition on the other side of the table. I'm not sharing my ideas and energy with the expectation of receiving anything in return. Trusting, sharing, risking and believing is it's own reward for the energy you feel compounds and leverages on itself. Money is the last thing you think when you operate from this paradigm.
Now let's pick apart the Old Business model which relied on a different form of ENERGY to survive and advance itself: energy taken or derived from individuals, people, communities, families, etc. The one thing that defined this Old paradigm more than anything else was one thing: lack of trust. As a society and world we've been brought up to accept and get used to control, structure, discipline, labels, boundaries, limits, etc. Just look around you. Since trust has been withdrawn, one of the main byproducts of this paradigm of control and power is...fear. And with each little piece of trust we withdraw from the world - from the time we are little kids until now, we unknowingly give up our energy and replace it with fear to some person, something, somewhere, sometime for all time. The combination of withdrawing of trust on the one side, against the "giving up" of our energy and meaning to something outside of ourselves on the other is at the root of all of our problems in the world.
Our lifelong challenge as individuals is to somehow learn the value of extending trust back out into the world, face and break through this fear and reclaim that childlike, innocent energy which we once remembered having. Wrap all this up into a little package and this translates to simply being...happy. For being happy is everyone's personal responsibility in this world. Sharing the "real" you with the world is what we are all supposed to do, period. The result from all of this is not sappy, happy, lovely dovey. The result you feel is the same power and energy which drives the sun. For when you breakthrough and step out into the light you are expressing and manifesting the same power which is driving the fission reaction which powers the sun. My contention is that LOVE is a fission energy reaction: it's a continuous fission reaction which results when you combine of trust, belief, information, risk and action. Very powerful, very direct, very daring. The world recoils from this stuff for it's the antithesis of what we are all used to seeing day to day: i.e. people giving up their energy, fearing something, being unhappy, seeing their trust and time abused, etc.
It's easy to see how from a position of distrust, fear, limits and scarcity, money becomes a primary driver/motivator. For money is anonymous trust and since trust is the currency of the universe it's very easy to see how we can be persuaded to think "god, if I just had enough money I could have the freedom to have the time to try to relive, find and discover the real meaning and core values in life." This process of replacing money with trust is at the root of most of our problems. Somewhere along the line as kids we began withdrawing our trust from the world as we began to "see" and learn from the actions of others - our parents, friends, etc., - that money was really more important than trust. One of the unintended byproducts of these "small pulling back actions of distrust" is that our view of the world narrows. Our awareness of the truth narrows. Our sensitivity to goodness and evil gets dulled. The courage we have and our ability to take a stand becomes muted. For keep in mind, as we withdrew all this trust we were also giving up all our core energy.
But this is fine for this is the energy the world as we know it feeds off of anyway. Give up your energy and you become a member of some club, your club, any club, political circle, even a corrupt clan. The other unanticipated consequence of this model is that when you give up your energy to something outside of yourself, you are also locking yourself into a paradigm of control, power and fear. From this position there are only two avenues to travel down: 1) you can become greater member of "the club" by corrupting yourself further and follow the Peter Principal to a higher position of dysfunctional power; or 2) you can breakthrough these fears by claiming your energy, extend trust back out into the world and redefine/find yourself.
But back to money and the Old model. Since money holds the upper hand versus trust, there is a body of thought which believes that individuals who excel at acquiring money usually are very adapt at using the energy and trust of others. And with money on the pedestal, service in the respect and honor of other's trust becomes secondary. Since we've have a hard time with these things, one natural outcome is to get government into the business of balancing these interests of money, power, control, right and wrong. .
Freedom and competition have alway been drivers of the Old Model. Prior to the internet audit trail, this left a very wide latitude on what people and companies could get away with. And, I'd hate to say it, but Novell could not compete in this model for Microsoft mastered this game of fear, control, power and disinformation. It was a game. Gates went too far and now they're adapting.
Switching gears for a moment, as I look around the Internet landscape today I see a lot of these DOT.COM companies doing the same thing that traditional companies have been doing for years: circling their wagons and putting up a pyramids with labels on them which presume to owned, earn or claim some form/bundle/collection of people's TIME and TRUST.
Cars.com
Houses.com
Shoes.com
The trend has really gotten out of hand. The entire DOT.COM venture capital community is basing their investments on the old power/control model which still assumes we are all going to give up our time, energy and trust to some DOT.COM portal. This is really wearing very thin. When the last gasp of anything happens you usually see examples of reaching, extremes, etc. Just look at all the advertising in magazines, radio and TV. It's as if we just discovered advertising! DOT.COM simply represents the discovery of finer - more vertical - ways traditional companies and their DOT.COM fence jumping partners can claim to try and target, slice, dice, own, factor and use our time and trust. For this model is still hunting, bagging, tracking, storing and laying out claims that they have earned the TIME, TRUST and data of individuals through registrations, memberships, calls, visits, etc. And as long as Wall Street and the venture capital community can keep thinking this is the real mcCoy, god bless them.
But if you scratch beneath the surface, this the same ole "Gotta Come To Me/Us" model which wants to own, control, structure and use data and information to sell more things. Some of the more visionary entities at least see the value of extending tools and services which help build trust by creating community.
But as far as Novell is concerned, the fact remains: it's business model needs energy. They should begin by learning the values of trust and the meaning of service. They should concretely replace their business mindset with a new "service" mindset - make the focus on providing ongoing consulting services, tools and support customers need. Eric must somehow convince the managers inside Novell to give up on the idea that they are going to control the technology. For in case you were asleep, technology can't be controlled anymore. That's like saying you can control people. For what is technology to begin with? It's simply a mirror on our collective mind. Going forward, technology that's not given away will be passed by for people will simply move on to "where the trust and energy is." For we have entered the new paradigm of trust and service. If you lead by helping and serving others you will have gained their time and trust. There is nothing more to fear anymore. This will be the new model of growth.
Now some may say that Microsoft still attracts the best developers for they treat developers like stars while Novell treats them as enemies out to steal their secrets. By Microsoft's approach is wearing thin around the world as the open source movement really begins to gather steam. There's a completely open audit trail with respect to Microsoft and everyone. Every action will be scrutinized like never before. Quite naturally, they are being forced to accept and adapt to the reality of this new paradigm of service. And this is where the real risk rests relative to Novell. For over the past year a myopic, paranoid, controlling mindset has reset itself inside this company and has successfully orchestrated a mugging of much of the white hot internal energy which was just beginning to turn Novell into an Internet leader of this New Age.
It's time that New Leadership forces inside and outside Novell challenge this Old paradigm, challenge these negative forces and politics by proposing to spin off various service subsidiaries which will concentrate on nothing more than creating apps which utilize much of Novell's great underlying technology.
These new subsidiaries will have a much better potential to create, thread, map and develop with these new forces of community and individual empowerment which are radically reshaping the world.
But the key is that these subsidiaries should be FREE to do whatever they want. The degree to which these entities use Novell's technology will be determined by the energy, openness and support they get....NOT from Novell, but from the end user - the individual customers.
Novell is not creating enough energy right now because they are not taking the risks which excite and empower others. There is no excuse for Buzzcompany (http://www.buzzcompany.com/default.asp) to be threaded with NT and NOT NDS. They say "BuzzCompany.com is transforming first-generation communities into next-generation e-markets," but these guys are not talking to Novell, but their software powers CNBC's website which does utilize Novell's technology. .
Well, we'd like to help Buzzcompany and many other companies/communities like them talk to Novell. The problem has always been that, compared to Microsoft, Novell has just been much more difficult to work with.
So I'd like to pose a challenge. Let all the evangelists inside Novell come out, share ideas, information and create energy. Let's have them lay all our cards on the same table. Let find ways to start building trust and community in ways which will open this whole process up.
When Eric Schmidt first arrived at Novell he promised to move this company into the Internet Age. This promised is still out there and I sincerely believe a radically empowering transformation can still take place.
Many call me crazy for trying to beat this "dead" horse, but I really think Eric, Bill Joy and others can still pull this off. I just hope Bill Joy is not as paranoid as he appears from his current cover story in Wired.
Novell, mankind and individuals need to "let go" and jump into this great river of life. Extend trust back into the world while reclaiming their personal energy. We need to relearn the art of building trust, community and fraternity. We need to reclaim these good internal energies while we let positive outside forces bathe us with support forgiveness, recognition and love. If we do this alone, Bill Joy can live up to his name and perhaps some of this can rub off on his buddy Eric and Novell can be transformed.
For if nothing happens along these lines, it'll be curtains.
Peace.
GO!! |
