Recession Hacking

Those who survive this recession will be the ones that find better, more efficient ways to run businesses and garner revenues. This is as much a re-think as a recession. As the Chicago Tribune files for Chapter 11, so Gawker and others are hiring. Webcasters such as Michael Buckley of "What the Buck" are giving up their day jobs while employees at the big networks are being forced out of theirs. This is more than a recession it is a change of guard. Out with the old and in with the new. As we discover that the Internet means everyone can talk to everyone, anytime, we are finding we can fundamentally changes what we do and how we do it. Technology facilitates things that were never before imaginable. Groups form instantly; we can share practically anything with anyone anywhere in the world in moments; we can mobilize to gather for a disco in Wall Street or to freak out commuters in Grand Central. We can think, imagine, create, build, sell, share and act together as never before. Flash mobs will become flash squads, flash activists, flash artists, flash builders, flash teachers, flash retailers, flash healers, flash advisors, flash businesses of all kinds.

It’s not surprising that the first businesses to go down are those with the biggest hierarchical structures and the strictest controls on information -shrouded in mystery and privacy protection - yes we are talking about you in Wall Street, Madison Avenue and Motor City Detroit. The businesses that will survive will use transparency and openness to their advantage, use their employees not as workers but as active participants in a bigger social agenda. Corporations will have move from corporate social responsibility practices that are white washes over their ambivalence to their customers and develop meaningful social missions which will not only give them greater reason for being but will give customer greater reason for engaging and helping them. Businesses of the future will be fully visible to their customers and will be judged not on the words that they say in their advertising but the actions they take along side their customers in the real world.

The first hack out of this recession will be a mechanism for businesses and individuals to be equal participants in a number of social agendas that benefit us all.

Innovation in the next year will be rife but it will not be VC funded nor will it come from corporate America. People will experiment themselves and share their experiences. That experimentation will be adopted faster than we've ever seen and will change business models, brand landscapes, categories and trade routes. New lifestyle brands will emerge and new ideas will spring from everywhere. Remix culture and the web will be the reason we adapt to change faster and more efficiently than previous generations hit by recession.