p.xi

PROLOGUE

During a recent interview, I was asked what was the most significant innovation in the last 50 years. Apart from the fact that the question is almost impossible to answer, as it is the business equivalent of your all time favourite record, I felt compelled to try to give an answer. I was drawn to mention The Human Genome Project and Wikipedia. What characterises both of these innovations is that neither are physical products such as the steam engine, the wheel and the light bulb. Instead they are information-based products of an economy where 3 i’s: intelligence, ideas and innovation are the currencies of sustainable progress. I have dubbed the application of the 3 i’s to the world of work as the Brain Based Economy.

Of course we have always used our brains to solve problems, but we have also thoughtlessly plundered the world’s natural resources in the last few centuries. We will have to think much more cleverly and systemically to address some of the problems we have created in the wake of our industrial revolution. For example, in the 21st century, it is predicted that we might face a rise in sea levels by up to 3 metres and we will face shortages of critical chemical elements. These are not the dystopian futures from environmental obsessives but inconvenient truths from the U.S. National Climate Assessment and The Royal Society of Chemistry. Our chemical addiction is due to our voracious appetite for rare elements, e.g. helium, which cools much of our everyday life, and rare earths, which enable much of our computing power. If we are to live long and prosper, we must rethink Professor Michael Porter’s paradigm of ‘Competitive Advantage’ to include notions of cooperative behaviour and sustainability. More than ever we now need SCA (Sustainable Coopetive Advantage).

In terms of my personal revolution in the BBE, I was born in late 1958, I grew up in the 1960s. It was the age of science fiction, The Man from Uncle, Uncle Sam, Soyuz, Apollo, the white light and white heat of science and technology, C.P. Snow, hippies, the first man on the moon, Star Trek, Lost in Space, Space Oddity and unbridled optimism about the future. I studied sciences with great wonder and believed that technology would solve all our problems and we would live a life of leisure. However, we were wrong, as computers largely have created more things for humans to be interested in, concerned about and to interrupt our lives at this point of their evolution. Perhaps we were just suffering from a little bit of ‘premature evaluation’ pumped up by the summer of love and an unquestioning belief in the appliance of science. However, we are now at a tipping point where computer power, automation and robotics offer us the possibility of realising these dreams if we get our marriage between man, woman and machine right. That said, much of what we have considered ‘work’ may well be outsourced to machines and all of us will need to up our game to remain relevant and worthwhile in the 21st century.

p.xii

Whether we face a dystopian ‘Mad Max’ future or a utopian life of leisure in the Man-Machine age rather depends on our responses to the future. Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum described the convergence of artificial intelligence, automation and machine learning as the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’. PwC recently reported that artificial intelligence could add up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. This is approximately the same as the combined output of China and India. At the same time KPMG reported that up to two-thirds of the US knowledge workforce might be affected by 2025. The Bank of England estimates that automation will eliminate 15 million jobs from the UK economy in the next 20 years – that is roughly 50% of all UK jobs. In China the number will reach some 77% according to the OECD. These losses are most likely to take place in jobs where there are few social elements. So, for example, if you are an undertaker, a hairdresser or a specialised care worker, you will likely still have your job, due to the high social element and individuality of your work. Equally, if you are a dentist, a doctor, a surgeon or an optician your job will be enhanced by technology, but the infinite variety of humans and, therefore, the high degree of personalisation will keep you in work. But, if you trade in knowledge, e.g. a financial analyst, a pay administrator or a market research analyst, most if not all of your current job will be done by machines. As computers begin to learn, so we must grasp the nettles of making ourselves truly brainy people, brainy teams and brainy enterprises.

Brain Based Enterprises offers a unique synthesis of intelligent thought fused with pragmatic and pithy insights on the art and discipline of leading enterprises, where intelligence, ideas and innovation are the currencies of SCA. From the first signs of intelligence through making axes and fire, we now have access to unprecedented powers of creation through the convergence of humanity and technology. Rapid and dramatic advances in our understanding of genomics, biotechnology, computing and robotics make it possible for us to create a better world or destroy what we have created. We explore both sides of the Man-Machine dynamic so that you can choose wisely.

Brain Based Enterprises is expressed clearly and concisely for busy people seeking to inform and illuminate themselves with a rich mixture of pragmatism, inspiration and wisdom. Featuring numerous micro case-ettes from enterprises ranging from biotechnology to banking and bots, Brain Based Enterprises grounds the ideas for people seeking to make the most of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Brain Based Enterprises addresses critical questions such as:

p.xiii

Brain Based Enterprises is divided into three ‘dialogues’.

Dialogue I: Brainy people (personal intelligence)

We begin by examining four postures that will enable us as individuals to sink or swim in the Man-Machine age. The transition to an intelligent society is a VUCA problem. We examine ways to handle Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous issues that we must address in order to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Our core tenet of a Brain Based Enterprise (BBE) relies on some new thinking about what constitutes intelligence and a rebalancing between conventional IQ, emotional (EQ) and spiritual (SQ) intelligence. Finally we look at seven core habits for a Brain Based Economy where man, woman and machine align their corporate corpuscles and collective synapses for a better world.

p.xiv

Dialogue II: Brainy teams (collective intelligence)

Intelligent teams need excellent leadership and management. Simply stated, leading brains in the Man-Machine age differs from managing brawn in the industrial era. We examine the differences and offer an agenda for Brain Based Leaders to lead diverse teams including members you have no formal control over if they are not on your payroll or watch. Implicit in the art of leadership is the need to use dialogue instead of discussion and to facilitate rather than tell people what to do. We look at the gentle art and discipline of dialogue and skilful facilitation, which make teams more intelligent and valuable. Individual intelligence is relatively simple, but how does a team make itself more intelligent through networking and leveraging its knowledge, expertise and experiences?

Dialogue III: Brainy enterprises (global intelligence)

In a world of continuous disruption, long-range planning and strategy are dead. Yet random improvisation is not a strategy for success. In a complex and occasionally chaotic world we need strategy that allows for responsiveness and agility. Here we explore the idea of strategic improvisation, learning from the business gurus and from masters of the art and discipline of improvisation in music. Ultimately a BBE rests on having people-management strategies and practices that liberate minds, bodies and souls. We look at how you can cultivate a culture that liberates the head, heart and soul of your enterprise. We also examine the influence of organisation structure on networked intelligence, drawing from the fields of biology, sociology, anthropology and mathematics to inform our thinking.

In writing this book, I bring three main pillars of my experience together: science, business and music. I have considerable practical experience of leading knowledge-based innovative enterprises in my formative career in pharmaceuticals, successfully bringing novel life-saving treatments to the world, such as human insulin and the first HIV/AIDS treatment, plus 25 years’ diverse business consulting across many different sectors. This is supported by many years in academia, teaching business and leadership at MBA level, plus experience from the artistic dimension, as a writer and performer of music. I dub this blend of art, academia and industry ‘pracademic’: informed by information, but not a slave to the rhythm of data; creative but not merely romantic dreaming; rooted in what works, but also constantly questioning what works in an endless obsession to learn.

p.xv

I am grateful as always to my wife, Alison, who has tirelessly made suggestions, critiqued and improved the book with her sharp and witty pragmatism in ways that no other strategic adviser or business consultant could ever come close to. My children Thomas and James have also helped in ways that they will never know. Bless them!

I am happy to indulge in conversations with others about how we shall approach the Man-Machine age. I can be contacted as follows:

Peter Cook