New Power

Introduction

In today's rapidly changing world, the concept of power is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Jeremy Heimans' book "New Power" explores this shift and provides insights into how power dynamics are evolving in our hyperconnected society. The book delves into the differences between old power and new power, examining their models, values, and implications for individuals, organizations, and society as a whole.

As we navigate an increasingly digital and interconnected world, understanding these new power dynamics becomes crucial for success in various aspects of life. Heimans offers a comprehensive look at how new power is reshaping our world and provides practical guidance on how to harness it effectively.

The Shift from Old Power to New Power

The Rise of Connectivity and Participation

In the past, society functioned like a giant machine, with people playing small, standardized roles within a hierarchical structure. Large corporations and bureaucracies held most of the power, making decisions for others and limiting opportunities for meaningful participation in civic, political, or economic spheres.

However, the advent of hyperconnected technology has dramatically changed this landscape. Digital tools have lowered barriers to participation, allowing people to collaborate across geographical boundaries, organize movements, and demand a more active role in decision-making processes.

The Story of Letitia Browne-James

A powerful example of this shift is the story of Letitia Browne-James, a lifelong epileptic who took control of her health care using new power tools. Dissatisfied with her neurologist's ineffective treatment, Browne-James discovered PatientsLikeMe, an online community where patients share experiences and medical data. Through this platform, she learned about a brain surgery option her doctor had never mentioned. By leveraging this information, she changed physicians, underwent the surgery, and has now been seizure-free for five years.

This story illustrates how new power enables individuals to access information, connect with others, and take action in ways that were previously impossible or difficult under old power structures.

Contrasting Old Power and New Power Values

Governance Styles

Old power favors formal, centralized governance, with decisions typically made at the top and passed down through a hierarchy. In contrast, new power embraces informal, networked governance, often involving crowdsourcing and collaborative decision-making processes.

Competition vs. Collaboration

While old power views competitiveness as the primary driver of human interaction, new power emphasizes cooperation and collaboration. New power systems encourage the sharing of resources, the spread of ideas, and the remixing of original work.

Communication and Transparency

Old power tends to separate public and private spheres, operating on a need-to-know basis. New power, however, values open and transparent dealings, pushing for greater access to information that was previously considered private or confidential.

Changing Roles: From Passive Consumers to Active Makers

The traditional role of the passive consumer is giving way to that of the "maker" – individuals who both consume and produce content. This shift is evident in the rise of YouTube bloggers, citizen journalists, and other content creators who leverage accessible technologies to produce material that was once the domain of well-funded elites.

Brand Affiliation: From Long-term Commitment to Temporary Association

New power is also changing how people interact with brands. Instead of long-term commitments, such as membership cards, people now tend to drift between online groups and use social media to temporarily associate with brands. This shift reflects a more fluid and dynamic approach to brand engagement.

Old Power and New Power Models

Distributed vs. Centralized Power

New power models distribute power more widely, as seen in movements like Occupy, which values radical transparency, equality, and meaningful participation for all. However, this distributed model can make it challenging to reach consensus or implement major organizational changes.

Old power models, on the other hand, are structured like a pyramid, with power concentrated at the top. Apple, despite being a cutting-edge technology company, exemplifies this model with its centralized decision-making and secretive nature.

Blending Old and New Power Approaches

Organizations often combine elements of both old and new power:

1. Cheerleaders: Companies like Patagonia use old power models (producing products with little external input) but embrace new power values (collaborating with consumers on social causes and maintaining transparency).

2. Co-opters: Organizations like Facebook adopt new power models (peer-to-peer networking) but maintain old power values (one-sided relationships with users and data hoarding).

The Evolution of Influence: From Sticking to Spreading

The Era of Sticky Ideas

Before the digital age, cultural influences were largely shared through a limited number of media outlets. Advertisers crafted messages with wide appeal, aiming for "sticky" and memorable ideas. The SUCCESS acronym (Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, and Stories) guided the creation of these sticky messages.

The New Goal: Making Ideas Spread

In the age of new power, the focus has shifted from making ideas stick to making them spread. This requires adding ACE (Actionable, Connection, and Extensible) to the SUCCESS formula:

1. Actionable: Ideas should encourage participation, like Facebook's "share" button.
2. Connection: Spreading relies on harnessing online networking tools.
3. Extensible: Ideas should allow for remixing and adaptation while maintaining their core structure.

The Ice Bucket Challenge: A Case Study in Spreading Ideas

The Ice Bucket Challenge, a fundraising campaign for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), exemplifies the effective use of ACE:

• Actionable: Participants had to dump a bucket of ice water on themselves.
• Connected: The challenge utilized participants' social networks.
• Extensible: It encouraged remixing, such as adding themed music to videos.

Building a Crowd with New Power: Five Key Steps

1. Find Connected Connectors: Identify influential individuals who share your organization's vision and values. Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign successfully leveraged online activists to build a passionate base of support.

2. Build a New Power Brand: Create a brand that embodies new power values. Airbnb's 2014 rebranding, which allowed hosts to customize the company logo, is an excellent example of this approach.

3. Lower Barriers to Participation: Make it easy for users to engage with your platform or movement. Tinder's simple swipe mechanism for arranging dates illustrates how lowering barriers can increase participation.

4. Move Participants Up the Engagement Scale: Encourage users to progress from passive consumption to more active forms of engagement, such as sharing, remixing, and ultimately shaping the community.

5. Harness Engagement Storms: Be prepared to capitalize on sudden surges of engagement. GetUp, an Australian activist network, successfully harnessed an engagement storm when they crowdfunded a winning bid for a refugee to receive surfing lessons from former Prime Minister Tony Abbott at a charity auction.

The Three Key Actors in a New Power Community

1. Platform Owners: They own the infrastructure and set the overarching rules. For example, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, Inc. are the platform owners of Facebook.

2. Participants: These are the regular users who contribute most to the platform's economic value. On Reddit, participants are the users who read and vote on content.

3. Super-participants: These highly active users contribute unique cultural value to the platform. YouTube's beauty vloggers, like Yuya, exemplify super-participants who have risen to prominence through their efforts and talents.

Balancing the interests of these three groups is crucial for the success of a new power community. YouTube's Partner Program, which shares advertising revenue with content creators, is an excellent example of nurturing super-participants while benefiting the platform as a whole.

The Importance of Secondary Actors

In addition to the key actor triangle, new power communities must also consider the influence of secondary actors, including:

• Institutional funders
• Media
• NGOs
• Celebrities and influencers
• The general public

The case of Invisible Children and its Kony 2012 campaign illustrates the importance of cultivating these secondary actors. Despite having a well-balanced internal triangle, the organization failed to engage external influencers effectively, leading to a backlash that damaged its reputation.

The Participation Premium

To succeed in the new power landscape, organizations need to provide both a product or service and a higher purpose. This combination creates a participation premium, where users feel they are contributing to something meaningful beyond a simple economic transaction.

The "IKEA effect," where people place higher value on products they've assembled themselves, demonstrates this principle. Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi leverages the participation premium by involving users in weekly reviews of their user interface, making customers feel like valuable contributors to the development process.

New Leadership Traits for the New Power Era

1. Signaling: Leaders demonstrate personal values through unorthodox actions, signaling desirable behaviors to followers. Pope Francis washing a refugee's feet is an example of this leadership style.

2. Structuring: Leaders use their position to restructure power dynamics within their organization. Pope Francis's reforms to the Vatican Bank illustrate this approach, aiming to decentralize power and create a more bottom-up structure.

3. Shaping: Leaders subtly influence the direction of their organization by molding beliefs and attitudes. Pope Francis's "Who am I to judge?" response to a question about homosexuality exemplifies this leadership style.

Blending Old and New Power Leadership

While new power leadership traits are becoming increasingly important, old power leadership is far from obsolete. Successful leaders in this transitional period often blend both styles.

The Spanish political party Podemos provides an excellent example of this hybrid approach. Founder Pablo Iglesias initially used old power tactics, like leveraging traditional media through a TV show, to build a following. However, when Podemos officially launched as a party, it embraced new power values such as horizontality, transparency, and crowdsourced policies.

This blend of charismatic leadership with new power values allowed Podemos to effectively navigate the changing political landscape and gain significant support.

The Importance of Understanding New Power

As our world becomes increasingly interconnected and digital, understanding the dynamics of new power is crucial for success in various fields. Whether you're an entrepreneur, activist, politician, or simply an engaged citizen, recognizing the shift from old power to new power can help you navigate and thrive in this changing landscape.

Some key takeaways for leveraging new power include:

1. Embrace transparency and open communication
2. Encourage participation and collaboration
3. Create platforms that allow for easy engagement and contribution
4. Cultivate a sense of purpose beyond economic transactions
5. Be prepared to adapt quickly to changing circumstances
6. Balance the interests of different stakeholders in your community
7. Develop leadership skills that combine elements of both old and new power

Challenges and Considerations

While new power offers many opportunities, it also presents challenges that must be addressed:

1. Balancing inclusivity with decision-making efficiency
2. Maintaining quality control in collaborative environments
3. Protecting privacy and security in open, connected systems
4. Ensuring that new power structures don't simply replicate old power inequalities
5. Navigating the tension between centralized leadership and distributed power

The Future of Power

As we move further into the 21st century, the interplay between old and new power will continue to shape our society, economy, and politics. Organizations and individuals that can effectively navigate this changing landscape will be best positioned to succeed and make a positive impact.

The future is likely to see:

1. Increased hybridization of old and new power models
2. The emergence of new platforms and tools for collaboration and participation
3. Evolving regulations to address the challenges posed by new power structures
4. A growing emphasis on purpose-driven organizations and movements
5. New forms of leadership that balance traditional authority with collaborative approaches

Conclusion

"New Power" by Jeremy Heimans offers a comprehensive look at how power dynamics are changing in our hyperconnected world. By understanding the differences between old and new power models and values, we can better navigate this shifting landscape and harness the potential of new power for positive change.

The book provides valuable insights for anyone looking to build movements, lead organizations, or simply understand the forces shaping our society. It emphasizes the importance of participation, transparency, and collaboration in the new power era while acknowledging the continued relevance of certain old power structures and leadership styles.

As we face global challenges that require collective action and innovative solutions, the principles of new power offer a framework for mobilizing people and resources in ways that were previously impossible. By embracing these new dynamics and learning to balance them with traditional approaches, we can create more inclusive, responsive, and effective systems for addressing the complex issues of our time.

Ultimately, "New Power" is not just about understanding a new set of tools or techniques. It's about recognizing a fundamental shift in how people relate to each other, to institutions, and to the world around them. By embracing this shift and learning to work within these new paradigms, we can unlock new possibilities for positive change and create a more participatory and empowering future for all.

Key Ideas Recap

1. The shift from old power to new power is driven by increased connectivity and accessibility of information.

2. New power values collaboration, transparency, and participation over centralized control and secrecy.

3. Successful organizations often blend elements of both old and new power models and values.

4. In the new power era, the goal is to make ideas spread rather than just stick.

5. Building a crowd with new power involves finding connected connectors, lowering barriers to participation, and moving participants up the engagement scale.

6. New power communities have three key actors: platform owners, participants, and super-participants.

7. The participation premium is crucial for engaging users beyond simple economic transactions.

8. New leadership traits for the new power era include signaling, structuring, and shaping.

9. Blending old and new power leadership styles can be effective in navigating the changing landscape.

10. Understanding and leveraging new power dynamics is essential for success in various fields in our increasingly interconnected world.

As we continue to navigate this evolving landscape of power, the insights and strategies presented in "New Power" provide a valuable roadmap for individuals, organizations, and movements seeking to make a meaningful impact in our hyperconnected world. By embracing the principles of new power while thoughtfully integrating elements of old power, we can work towards creating more inclusive, responsive, and effective systems for addressing the complex challenges of the 21st century.