The Renaissance Society: How the Shift from Dream Society to the Age of Individual Control will Change the Way You Do Business / Edition 1

by Rolf Jensen, Mika Aaltonen

Overview

THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT THE FUTURE.
Your future. Our future. The future of companies,the marketplace, and society.

According to futurists Rolf Jensen and Mika Aaltonen, we are currently "between dreams." We've managed to achieve many of our material goals, only to face ever-growing global competition in an ever-slowing economy. Here's the good news: With the rise of social media and online resources, consumers are growing more powerful. Individuals are exploring more options. And smartbusinesses are discovering more ways to appeal to this powerful new community.

Welcome to The Renaissance Society. A world-class network of ordinary people who are changing the way companies and communities interact, they are the future—and they are us. This forward- thinking book guides you through tomorrow's hottest trends to help you:

• Make an emotional connection to your customers
• Create a value-driven company that engages your employees
• Adjust your business strategy for a flatter, global marketplace
• Reward individual expression and spark a tribal spirit
• Identify future trends to build long-term success

Jensen and Aaltonen's razor-sharp predictions offer a much-needed headsup—and a major head-start—for yourfuture success. You'll explore revolutionary ways in which the individual's role will shift from consumer to creator—much like it did during the European Renaissance. You'll find out why learning will become the world's largest industry and how services will become the twenty-first century's biggest growth market. You'll see a powerful shift in the concept of ownership, the role of employees within a company, and the role of companies in society. Most important, you'll be able to turn these fascinating predictions into real-world opportunities for decades to come.

In The Renaissance Society, everybody matters. Each and every one of us has the power to reshape the future of our companies. To reignite the passion of our communities. And to restore our faith in ourselves, our dreams, and our limitless potential for growth.

PRAISE FOR THE RENAISSANCE SOCIETY

"Jensen and Aaltonen have created a captivating portrait of tomorrow, one that inspires us to think of alternatives. Decision makers in all fields will find that this book provides powerful reasons to question their grasp of the present." — Riel Miller, Foresight Director, UNESCO

"Mika and Rolf inspire our thinking and action with a book based on solid theory—and their vast experience working with leading international companies. It is avaluable reference for leaders in both business and politics." — DR. STEFAN BERGHEIM, DIRECTOR,CENTER FOR SOCIETAL PROGRESS, GERMANY

"The Renaissance Society is a fascinating and highly readable guide to the future and the possibilities it holds. These are hard times for many people but thisbook helps to lift our sights and see the scope now emerging for a step change in human achievement." — Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, Royal Society of Arts

PRAISE FOR ROLF JENSEN'S THE DREAM SOCIETY

"Riveting." — Library Journal

"Dramatic insights." — Atlanta Business Chronicle

"Rolf Jensen is pointing the way to the future." — Harriet Rubin, author, The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780071806053
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	05/03/2013
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Rolf Jensen is Chief Imagination Officer at Dream Company. He is also a bestselling author, lecturer, and advisor to major international companies around the world.

Mika Aaltonen is a research director at Aalto University in Finland, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London, and CEO of Helsinki Sustainability Center.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

The Reader's Manual xiii

Introduction: Setting the Scene: The 12 ideas to launch your next dream xv

The Extended Now

The West Is Between Dreams

The Third Industrial Revolution

The 2018 Recession

The Flat Society

The Twenty-First-Century Growth Industries

Mental Illnesses

The Store as Theater

The New Middle Class

A Whole New World in Marketing

Measure Happiness, Not GDP

Re-create Nature

1 The Material World: How rich are we now, and how rich will we be in the 2040s? 1

How Rich Are We Now?

How Rich Will We Be in the 2040s, Based on Past Growth Patterns?

The Big Nations in the Global Economy

Boom and Doom: The Eternal Cycle

The Multipolar World of Economic Growth-The Meaning of Globalization

Growth Happens in Cities

Textiles, Cars, and Electronics-Industries on the Move

The New Global Middle Class-The 2 Billion People Market Opportunity

Cybersecurity

2 The Values of Nations: "How Are We?": Cultural differences in values, and the changes that are likely to take place 27

A Sprint Through History and into the Future of Global Values

Happiness and Satisfaction with Life

The Not-for-Profit Company of the Future

The Flat Society-When Hierarchies Flatten

New Technology as the Equalizer: The Flat Marketplace

The Company Level

A Look Inside Our Brain

Emotional Market Segmentation

Postmaterialistic Consumers

The Spiritual Supermarket

From Dark to Light

The Happiness Market: The Rise and Fall of GDP

3 How We Will Produce and How We Will Consume: Trends in the way we produce and consume now and will in the future 65

How We Will Produce and Consume-The Relationship

The Self-Organizing Society

The Us-Me Industry

The "Handmade" Industry Is Growing

The Under-the-Radar Market

The E-Commerce Revolution

The Shop as Theater

The Shop as Factory

The One-Person Factory

The Augmented Marketplace

If the Question Is Marketing, the Answer Is Fan Management

4 How Will We Learn?: Learning may become the world's largest industry 93

The Limits of Our Knowledge

Being Wrong

Contaminated Truth

Deep AQ

Out of the Institutions

Open-Source Science

The New Nomads

The End of the Isolated Mind

Mind Enhancement

5 Thinking About Systems: The globe as one interconnected system 119

A System of Systems

The Planes of Influence

Planetary Boundaries

New Economics

Small State, Big Society

Economics of Bits

Milliseconds Matter

6 The Leadership Dilemmas: Leadership is about dilemmas, not just about right and wrong 143

The Loyalty Dilemma

The Hierarchy Dilemma

The Value Dilemma

The Sense-Making Dilemma

The Globalization Dilemma

The Openness Dilemma

The Social Organization Dilemma

The Perfect Leader

7 The Authors' Conclusion: The authors present their personal interpretation of the many trends leading us into the future 163

Eastern Dreams

Western Dreams

The West Between Dreams

The East and the West in Globalization

The United States and China: The Different Value Patterns

The Values of the Future

The Big Five Challenges for the West

The Big Five Challenges for the East

Three Examples from the Future Change Driven by Consumers

Is the West Heading Toward a Real Revolution?

The Exciting Future

References 181

Index 187

Editorial Reviews

Business consultant Jensen (chief imagination officer, Dream Company; director, Copenhagen Inst. for Future Studies) aims here to refresh and extend concepts and predictions first launched in his best-selling book, The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from Information to Imagination Will Transform Your Business, in which he captivated audiences ws ws ws ws ws ws wvent conflict with China over resources, trade, and human rights, and therefore improve its own economy as a result.

Verdict This is one of those rare books that places political economy into understandable, even enjoyable form. Academics, researchers, and certainly policy makers would do well to purchase this work.—Duncan Stewart, Univ. of Iowa Libs., Iowa City
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Library Journal