Future of Work from around the web January 2018

As we progress on our mission to advance collaboration and connect the planet (see how we connected 1 million people in 2017) - we occasionally share what our team is reading around the Internet.

Crazy complex analysis on: Modeling a Dynamic Reality
"Tools that will permit us to move from data to knowledge that will increase our understanding of complex, nonlinear, human systems, such as that of the First Global Age, 1400–1800, and about how such systems are coupled to complex natural systems

One of the better takes on turning events into communities
"I come across a lot of monthly or yearly recurring gatherings that describe themselves as communities: The Web Summit community, the TEDx community, the SxSW community, The NY Tech Meetup community. As someone who studies communities and has been to many of these events as a participant, I have been asking myself: are these events actually communities? And where is the line between a regularly happening gathering/conference/meet up and a community?"

Adobe's take on creating High Performance Teams
"But what does a high-performance team—and a high-performance employee—look like? And how do we, as managers, identify these power players and connect the dots to drive success? In my experience, it’s multiple parts—it’s determining who you’re looking for, assessing if a candidate checks the right boxes and, ultimately, managing your team to perform at their peak both individually and as a whole. Managed right, these teams are a force to be reckoned with and, hands down, the single greatest way to drive success in any vertical."

Leadership Development in the Age of the Algorithm. Old but still great considering Marcus wrote this in 2012!

meetPrep is a great tool to "be the highly efficient, forward thinking and reliable right hand for event attendees, transforming opportunities into fruitful initiatives." And Alignable is a great tool to "connects business owners to each other and the resources they need to succeed."

Usually producing great Future of Work material: Marginalia Magazine wrote about collaboration and innovation. And Stanford writing about: Building Cultural Prosperity.

Most people interested in better collaboration already know about Jason Fried of Basecamp fame... but when he writes about how his teams operate, we should all listen!

And if you haven't heard of Damon Centola (our of U Penn right now) you should definitely catch up on some of his research to improve the way you work.

While we wholeheartedly believe in emergence, we struggle with the popularity of emergent organizations right now... after all, aren't they the reason the planet is so divided? (and perhaps why GE is having so many problems?) Article by Beth Comstock.

As we try new technologies and collaboration ways, be sure to read the opposite point of view. Arthur Brock on blockchain design flaws.

Although the Design Thinking backlash is only about to begin... her is Fast Company sharing how it is failing to help inequality. And the Guardian details how personalization and self segregation (aka, analog emergence) is dividing Americans.

David Spark of Spark Minute nails the 20 things wrong with conferences - and even gives a few ideas on how to fix it. David... we are 100% with you!

While everyone and their mother is building a 'platform' - and of course, someone built a toolkit, er, canvas, er, map, er 'pick the latest trend word' --- Simone Cicero has a good write up on growth and network effects. And his classic about platforms.

And of course, the future of work involves smart marketplaces of all types (putting aside blockchain for a moment here :)
http://www.panjo.com/partners
https://www.sharetribe.com/
http://ecommercemix.com/ 
http://www.fatbit.com/ 
https://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/ 

Reading Hacker Noon can always help too:

Finally, if you haven't tried it already. Try Google's Ngram Viewer to do some comparisons on future of work people and terms!