Gilderspeak......
Peter, Paul & Scot-Toy et. al:
In the WSJ today Gilder did a wonderful job isolating/contrasting and jamming U.S. market regulators' fear-based victorian stranglehold on laws limiting disclosure of "inside" information by public companies.
One of the core reasons which drives people like me to comment/write/share ideas and energies is that we believe bigger pies can indeed be grown by opening up the process of communicating and sharing data and information with others.
Gilder argues that recent heightened volatility in U.S. public markets has been exacerbated by the growing information disconnect between a burgeoning market of "outsider" net-based communications and the fixed clamped/restrictions companies face on disseminating/releasing critical inside information.
Joe/Jane public is being severely kicked around by this unbalanced reality for we can all pretty much guarantee that REAL information IS still getting out to a select small group who now just have that much more massive leverage against the growing numbers of Joe/Jane's out there.
The more the net grows in size and scope, the more unbalanced these rules which governed the "Old" Quotron/BunkerRamo print world dating back to the 60's and 70's. Back in those days it was fine to release antiseptically pleasing press releases every 2-4 weeks. The audience in those days was the retired ticker-tape black fingered lunchbox crowd which hung around the front reception areas of brokerage firms.
But today we live in a 24hr X 7days X 60min X 60sec reality. With each new form communication opening up - phone, tickertape, conferencing, faxing, TV, cable, email, internet, video, messaging, chat, etc. - there should be a concomitant loosening of company restrictions on the dissemination of information to the general public.
I've been a huge proponent of a completely open and transparent trading audit/compliance trail in the financial services industry. I've organized conferences, gathered data, produced reports, worked with professors to help publish papers, presented at conferences and met one on one and in groups with brokerage firms throughout the country - well before, during and after the SEC's release mandating "regular and rigorous" reporting on quality, service relating to "best execution."
The lesson's I learned from these theoretical/philosophical exercises - call them "wars" if you will - is that EVERYONE ended up benefitting from the open dialogue and open exchange of data and information. We learned which players/firms and which exchanges/platforms were more open vs. less open. The personalities and energies were very similar to what we've been experiencing in this SI Novell exercise.
For this IS the "next frontier."
I accomplished what I needed to accomplish in the audit/compliance trading game. Now we're onto this wonderful new and much more highly fragmented and dispersed world of online data and information.
I firmly believe that the Novell SI, Yahoo, Raging Bull and elsewhere boards of the future will be brimming with an ongoing flood of data and information from a growing series of individuals who become known for helping and serving up insightful, useful bits/bites of knowledge that others can benefit from.
Knowledge represents the lifeblood of community. We are all here to share insights, data, information and energies to help and serve the greater good so that the commnity pie continues to grow. If any of us selfishly takes energy from others in this community he/she will/should naturally default off this service platform. Communities are self reinforcing and alive with the energy from people's shared time, trust and risk. THIS is what keeps people coming back to participate in what ideally could be this great socratic dialogue.
I predict that in less than a few years we will see these boards come alive with an even more fantastic fusion of dialogue, data, information, charts, reasearch and knowledge coming directly from the COMPANY. Yes, the company!! For on the net all pretenses should dissolve. "Outside" and "Inside" fade to ONE. Transparency reigns. Like deer and elephants in headlights, the SEC, NASD and NYSE are still trapped in the Old BunkerRamo days of yore: pleasing, comfortable and highly profitable to a growing imbalance of a very few, but highly, highly unfair, wrong and plain out of touch for today's reality.
We are seeing history play right out before our eyes on these boards. I firmly believe that the individuals that have learned these transformation/catalyst skills of networking, dialoguing, engaging, reaching, touching, influencing, helping, sharing - yes, even irritating - and serving will become the leaders of this New Age of Service. For this New Age will be all about building and developing community - which WILL become THE virtual currency of this Service Age.
Virtual Currency???
Yes!
The depth and degree of "Community" will be measured by the depth and degree of TRUST created, maintained, stored and protected INSIDE each community. This won't have anything directly to do with the currency of this Old Age - ie. MONEY. It will be simply felt, experienced and shared like a comfortable warm, velvet robe.
Money will revert to becoming a second or third class tool. People will rise in stature/recognition to the degree to which they become known for openly sharing ideas,
energy, trust and knowledge - FREELY, unconditionally, selflessly. If you haven't gotten into helping and serving others you will be relegated to scrapping away with ONLY money as your medium of value/exchange.
I know this all may sound so Messianic to Paul and others. Well, I say, "relax, get used to it." We won't have to carry the good book or wear a collar to appreciate this stuff for "this stuff" is finally going to hit the streets where it should be shared anyway without all the hype/fear and baggage.
For the explosion of ENERGY we are witnessing on the net is simply a leading edge precursor for what will eventually spill into the streets. Clinton was at COMDEX here in Chicago preaching to close the digital divide. FREE ISP access is becoming so common that we'll have multiple ISP accounts. And AOL's dominance will gradually fade as these REAL "community" suns rise while these "content" suns set.
People live/thrive off COMMUNITY: the need to feel wanted, loved, welcomed, warm. Content will gradually switch allegience from the Old Business media carriers to New Individual Net "Service carriers" - ie. a growing number of individuals who operated within the trusted platforms of these emerging virtual communities.
I think I've made my positive point.
Now the challenge for Peter, Paul, Scott and Toy is how does this all relate to the REAL world of Novell? And, you know what? I'm fully and completely aware and respect that NONE of this may relate to anyone.
But that, too, is life - which I totally appreciate and accept.
Peace.
GO!!
|
