Re: [projectvrm] Supply Chain Thinking

[Doc Searls < >]

Thanks, JP. 

I like “my own system of record.” 

Calls to mind Invictus, by William Ernest Henley <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182194>:

“I am the captain of my soul.”

Also all of Whitman: <http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/vrm/2013/08/21/leveraging-whitman/>

“I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept

by a carpenter’s compass.

I know that I am august,

I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself 

or be understood.

I see that the elementary laws never apologize.

...I was never measured, and never will be measured”

And much more.

It is from this irrepressible place that VRM comes.

Doc

On Mar 5, 2015, at 5:12 PM, JP @ Beyond Bridges < " class=""> > wrote:

I have been lurking here for a couple of weeks now and just wanted to say hello and thank you all for the inspired conversations …..….     “Hello and thank you all for the inspired conversations."

Some of the threads reminded me of an email sig I sometimes use … "I Am My OWN System Of Record” … which stems from my belief that the idea that an organization - ANY organization THINKING that its ‘system of record’ is anything but a tiny lens onto who I am … is deeply flawed. They don't - never will - and the fact they even think they ‘know me', reflects mightily on their arrogance.

My observation is that there is (should be?) a radical shift in organizational thinking - as they transition out of what I call ‘Supply Chain Thinking’.

Historically organizations [have / build / develop] financial systems, manufacturing systems, project management systems, HR systems ….. all systems about managing and controlling an organizational environment and its assets. With such systems built, when they turn their heads to face the customer side of their business - the same thinking emerges - they want to know how to manage that wild west called ‘the market’. 

But - although the transition from 'Producer Efficient Supply Chains' - to 'Customer Effective Demand Networks' has been underway for years - the thinking of how to manage the latter is stuck firmly in the past.

.. and so terms like 'Opportunity Management Systems', 'Sales Force Automation', 'Customer Relationship Management’ are born … all systems designed to manage the wild west under their terms. In fact consider one of the more enlightened companies … SalesForce - who in DreamForce 2013 - used the tag line : ‘The Internet of Customers’ … my goodness - how assumptive … surely it is an Internet of People (OK - and ‘Things’) … you have to EARN the right to have me as a customer ….

The enlightened TALK of Customer Engagement, Customer Centricity, et al - but as many on this list have pointed out - often only platitudes, veneers, words - not actual actions. Most likely because it is close to impossible for many ‘command and control’ organization to operate in a ‘flat world’. So Customer Centricity must emerge out of a radical rethink of how organizations work. 

I am also a big believer in the concept of ‘platform’ as defined and promoted by Sangeet Choudary - one of his recent posts helped me spawn this - where I am beginning to explore the link between his thinking and VRM.

I look forward to the 6th April and meeting you all - already signed up - I will be the quiet one in the corner, listening.

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John  Philpin @ Beyond Bridges

"I Am My OWN System Of Record"