Connection Economy: 8 New Rules to Thrive in the Workplace

Why a Focus on Relationships, Value, and Impact Will Give You A Competitive Advantage at Work and in Business Today

Welcome to this week’s edition! 👋

This one is special - I’ve had the chance to do my first co-written article with Kay Walker, Head of Content at the Xchange Company, a venture network and leadership institute based in Canada. Kay has taken personal development to heart with her incredible experience in leadership roles in content and digital marketing, and as a professional writer (she is best known for co-writing The Buddha and the Badass, with Vishen Lakhiani, and Own Your Power with Jayson Waller - New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers). Oh, I forgot - she’s also built leadership programs and worked as a corporate coach - which brings all of it together. 

While talking over email, Kay shared her interest in the future of work in general, but more specifically about how we’re living at a key moment in time, where we realize that information and attention have almost ‘drugged’ us. We need to find a new path forward to succeed as individuals and as a collective.

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As we move out of the information age where attention was the way to get ahead, it’s likely that in the future, human connections are what will give you an edge at work or as a freelancer or entrepreneur. 

We are headed for a new era — The Connection Economy — where success will be awarded to those who offer true value (versus perceived) with their products, services, and skills, and share and build more value through trusted networks. 

In this article, you’ll learn how we’ve arrived at this point and what skills you need to focus on to win in the next era of business and work.

Defining the Connection Economy

To understand the Connection Economy, it is important to first redefine business value. 

One of the pioneers of the concept is marketing expert and author Seth Godin. He defines the Connection Economy as an era where:

“relationships and human connections assume the mantle of value and economic growth.”

In this landscape, the ultimate measure of success isn't the number of billboards, follower counts, or higher marketing budgets. Instead, the most triumphant individuals and enterprises will be those who adeptly foster and sustain meaningful relationships.

The Connection Economy emphasizes that the primary currency is trust and connections among people, making relationships central to value creation and distinguishing brands.  This emerging era underscores the importance of community, care, and the power of human connections in all we do - including the world of work and employee-employer relations. In some instances, this reach even extends to the broader community. Take Detroit, for example, which is synonymous with the automotive industry, or how Silicon Valley is associated with tech innovation. Identifying value within an organization goes far beyond financial metrics, and with this framework, return on investment (ROI) needs to include social, environmental, and personal value.

How and when you measure these types of values becomes the new challenge that both employers and employees must face and we’ll get to that soon. 

But first, although you might agree and begin feeling the change yourself,  to understand why experts are saying we’re heading to this Connection Economy era, let's take a short trip back to see how we got here.

A simplified timeline of where we came from and where we’re going

Humans have been working together since the very beginning of, well, us. At that point, we may not have a monetary system or complex tools like our laptops and phones but we have always worked together to get things done. Here’s a simplified timeline for those who are keen to understand the full journey.

Hunter-Gatherer Era

The 'Hunter-Gatherer' era, spanning around 90% of human history, was characterized by nomadic tribes where elders held leadership positions based on their experience and storytelling abilities. Achieving a competitive advantage relied on a strong focus on hunting, safety, and knowledge.

Agrarian Era

Agriculture emerged about 10,000 years ago, replacing muscle power with animal power and leading to permanent settlements. Competitive advantage in the Agrarian economy was achieved by maximizing land productivity. 

Industrial Era

The Industrial economy, marked by innovations like the printing press and steam engine, led to urbanization and the emergence of factories. Organizational hierarchies and the distinction between management and workers became prominent. Efficiency and compliance were valued, and the production line assembly system revolutionized business operations. Education became a key factor in leadership, wealth distribution became more uneven, and technology advancements paved the way for a disruptive shift in the 1960s with improved access to information. hsdahashd

Information Era

The Information economy emerged with companies like IBM, where knowledge became more valuable than physical capital. Computers and technology took over cognitive tasks, and the ability to extract and use information became the basis of competitive advantage. Real-time communication and data sharing became crucial, while leadership shifted to those with access to data and agility in navigating rapid change. The Information economy also provided opportunities for women to occupy leadership roles. 

During this time, more companies and people started vying for attention online, which resulted in a term used by many economists today, The Attention Economy. 

The term ‘Attention Economy’ was first coined by Herbert A. Simon, an American psychologist and economist, in 1971. Simon wrote about the “scarcity of attention in an information-rich world and treated human attention as a scarce commodity”, applying economic theory to the management of information. It then started to gain traction with the growth of internet adoption, particularly with a seminal article in 1997 by ​​Goldhaber, titled "The Attention Economy and the Net. With the rise of social media platforms and smartphones in the 2000s, the competition for attention intensified, resulting in an almost completely digital era, characterized by unlimited access to information and constant connectivity. Of course, this has amplified the attention economy to unprecedented levels.

There are a lot of positive and negative connotations with the Attention Economy, but we’re going to intentionally focus on how it’s impacted work, and why we think that it’s created a big opportunity for a further shift to what we call the ‘Connection Economy that is coming because of the Value Era. Currently, the disruptive shift is driven by social technologies transforming how we connect, collaborate, and communicate.

Value Era

The Connection economy is the next economic era characterized by the importance of forming meaningful relationships and connections. Technology, especially social technologies, plays a crucial role in bridging generational gaps and enabling personal connections. Competitive advantage in the Connection economy lies in building relationships based on trust, values, and personal connection, which is evident in areas such as talent attraction and retention. Leadership in this economy requires understanding and adapting to the shift towards authentic leadership, emotional intelligence, and alignment between corporate values and behavior.

As we shift from the Information Era to the Value Era we will likely see this shift from Attention Economy to Connection Economy, so let’s dive into that a bit deeper before we talk about the skills we should all be focusing on if we want to succeed in these new exciting times. 

Shifting from Attention Economy to Connection Economy 

Today, it’s estimated that a person is exposed to a minimum of 100 advertisements per day and that the average attention span has decreased from 2½ minutes in 2004 to 47 seconds in 2023. 

Given its continuous pursuit of novel ways to capture human attention and do so by trying to outdo the exponential growth of competition, the Attention Economy has led to:

Faster decay of products, services, and skills. Products, skills, and services are decaying at faster rates than ever before. Many companies seem to be spending more money on ‘eyeballs’ and less on the quality and innovation of the product itself. The same happens with skills, also due to the rate of technological advances, and disruptive industries like AI. 

Creation of new jobs. In some cases, this has opened up the creation of new jobs, like the role of influencer. These were the byproduct of following ideal lifestyles and preference of listening to other people’s advice instead of brand advertisements but initially focused on ‘star’ / mega influencers. More recently, it has developed into ‘Creators’ therefore opening up to profiles with smaller followings. Also at an executive level, the roles of Chief Experience Officer (CXO) or Chief Customer Officer (CCO) have been fast-growing in the last decade, and their focus is to decode human relations.

Faster pace of change and innovation. Competition for attention leads companies to look for more ways to innovate. 

Extreme and global competition for jobs -  The so-called "Uberization" of industries such as retail, taxi and car hire, food delivery, and travel and tourism has resulted in a shift in the job market with extreme levels of contractual flexibility. The rise of remote jobs has put a lot of skilled workers on the map, competing for jobs that they couldn’t apply for before. On average, job openings are getting 20-25% more applications year over year.

More difficulty in evaluation of value and skills -  The rapid pace of change and innovation, coupled with the decay of skills and knowledge, has made it more difficult to evaluate the value and skills of workers. Skill decay refers to the gradual loss of proficiency or effectiveness in a skill over time, due to lack of practice, feedback, or reinforcement. This is a major challenge for professionals who want to stay relevant and competitive in a fast-changing world. Organizations and their employees have changed how they need to accomplish their work, with implications for continuous education and training too.

Highly skilled experts not getting the exposure they should be given their credentials and work. This is shifting now too with platforms like Substack and Medium where lesser-known experts can share their wisdom and succeed.

It’s likely why thought leaders like Greg Isenberg say “Community-led businesses are the future.” His recipe for success is to share ideas via social media platforms, build a community, and then find out what they need and serve them by building products.

Perhaps the biggest challenge as we move into a Value Era where the Connection Economy will be at play is how and when you measure these types of values becomes the new challenge that both employers and employees must face. Let’s think of a few concrete examples:

High-growth companies: I recently read a recruiter saying to stay away from people who need to specify in their LinkedIn titles ‘Ex-Company’ because most likely they didn’t contribute to that growth. Many times, in the business world, it’s about being in the right time, at the right place. How do you ensure that a certain background means that the value you’re looking for was created? Yes, it’s true that decisions are complex and that often companies look for signals to assess candidate profiles critically, but is using these signals the best way to filter at the beginning? 

Complex projects: Not everyone has the opportunity or will to be in the spotlight, and many times complex projects mean that value creation is invisible for many who participate in it. How do you assign value in this case? It always makes me think about attribution in marketing: a common problem is understanding how much value you need to assign to channels/touchpoints that haven’t resulted in the final ‘conversion’ of the user. Historically companies have used ‘Last click’ which meant that if the user got exposed to the brand/product first on Social Media, but then came back and purchased through Search advertising, the marketing spend on Social Media seemed completely useless. Now, statistical modeling (like Multi-Touch and Marketing Mix Modeling) is being used to correct this through the use of historical data, and correlations. 

The good news is that we are also in the era of blockchain and Web 3.0 where we finally can capture value for the first time by creating a record that is fully accessible so there is transparency. Shortly there will be platforms where all the activity is recorded so everyone can see how every member of the team contributed with ideas, skills, and capital in the creation of a project. Imagine everyone has evidence and data to show the work they’ve done instead of writing it up in a resume or LinkedIn profile. We are now capable of proof.

New rules to thrive in the workplace

1.Proof of Work: The concept of Proof of Work (PoW) originates from blockchain technology, where it is used to validate transactions and mine new tokens. PoW requires participants to do work—solving complex computational problems—to add new blocks to the blockchain.

In a broader economic sense, PoW can be adapted to demonstrate the value created by an individual's contributions. It's a form of verification for the effort and input one has provided, which can be particularly valuable in sectors where output is not easily quantifiable. Instead of relying solely on resumes or LinkedIn profiles, which can be imprecise or inflated, PoW seeks to provide tangible evidence of one's skills and contributions.

2.Credentialing 2.0: Traditional credentials, like degrees and certificates, are becoming less important than tangible evidence of creativity and completed projects. This shift is reflected in job descriptions from startups and innovative companies that emphasize demonstrated skills and project portfolios over formal education.

3. Organizations → Communities: Communities like DAOs are becoming new spaces for collaboration and value creation. They operate on principles of collective decision-making and often use blockchain to transparently record contributions. Companies need to realize that they need to become more like communities than hierarchical organizations.

4.Personal Branding → Contributions: The focus is shifting from building a personal brand based on perception to establishing a reputation based on verifiable contributions. This means that individuals will be valued for the work they can prove they have done, rather than the image they project; this can be from smaller contributions to the community to bigger projects.

5.Rethink Referrals: Finding the right job or candidate is often a slow and complex process. By using a Proof of Work approach, matchmaking can become more efficient as employers can quickly verify the contributions and skills of potential candidates. Also, referrals are a powerful tool in the job market, often leading to opportunities that are not publicly advertised. However, current tools like LinkedIn's referral system are not effective. This concept is being explored in other areas; for example, Tinder is set to introduce “friend matchmakers”, suggesting that personal recommendations could be more influential than traditional applications.

6.Build New Roles within Organizations: The Connection Economy may introduce new roles focused on matchmaking and maintaining networks within organizations. This could involve roles that specialize in connecting employees to projects that match their skills and interests.

7. Data, and Organizational Network Analysis: Companies might employ Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) to better understand and leverage the relationships and informal networks within their workforce. ONA can help identify key influencers, information flow, and collaboration patterns that contribute to organizational effectiveness.

8.Consider Sustainability: There may be room to discuss sustainability in this context as well. The Connection Economy, with its emphasis on transparency and verifiable contributions, could lead to more sustainable business practices. By valuing actual work and contributions, it could reduce waste associated with marketing and superficial branding efforts and instead focus resources on genuine value creation and sustainable growth.

Future Evolutions / Final Thoughts

To succeed in the Values Era where connect will be key, it’s likely we will all need very different skills.

We will need relationship/people skills. Relationships have always been important in business but now it won’t be about who you know and how strategic you are. Instead, it will be about how good you are at creating genuine connections and doing great work with others using your skills. 

You will need to know how to build trust and that starts with being trusting. You will need to raise your self-awareness so you get what you contribute to relationships and how you make others feel. To truly excel in this new environment, active listening, emotional intelligence, and seeking feedback are essential to gauge and refine your interpersonal impact. Trust is cultivated through consistent, dependable actions and reinforced in team-building settings. Effective communication, empathy, and cultural awareness are the pillars of sincere connections. Authentic networking, offering real value to others, and adept conflict resolution are indispensable for robust, cooperative relationships. 

Take Away: A personal development plan, enriched by professional coaching if needed to nurture these competencies.

We will need to be good at what we do and always get better. Think of what is typical in many corporations. Someone gets hired for a role because of years at a company or skill but over time, they might start to dial it in more because they get used to doing the same thing or collecting a paycheck. The people who are truly skilled and providing value will succeed while the looking good “surface successful” workers won’t be able to fake it. Even some top Silicon Valley CEOs spoke out, saying that the “biggest myth” about working in the tech industry is that it’s based on a meritocracy (Ellen Pao, CEO of Reddit).

Businesses and their leadership teams must commit to self-assessment by consistently monitoring outcomes through detailed surveys and performance metrics. These tools can provide insights into current performance levels, identify areas for enhancement, and pinpoint individuals or departments that require development. 

Take Away: Bring transparency in compensation, formalizing evaluation processes, and creating “social accountability” among managers by sharing data on, for instance, promotion patterns by race and gender across different departments.

We will need to solve needs not say we do but don’t follow through. From a content perspective, I believe we’ll see a shift where super polished content will be seen as less credible than experts who are simply throwing great ideas out there but it’s a bit of chicken scratch - where ideas are presented in their nascent, unpolished form. This resonates with audiences looking for real solutions and honest perspectives. I think this shift is already happening and will accelerate with the engulfing adoption of AI. 

Take Away: Move away from standard news sources and curate your information ‘diet’ by following individuals who are experimenting and living/breathing real-life examples of situations you are interested in understanding better. It’s likely that Search Engines will move to being ‘Chatbot’ assistants, and that you will need to look for real human contributions anytime soon to avoid reading up the same thing over and over again.

We will develop and seek out niche micro-communities. As we seek more and more a sense of belonging and identity, we will be drawn to these micro-communities where we can interact with like-minded people. Within these spaces, members are not just passive consumers but active participants, contributing to the community's culture and content. This level of engagement creates a strong sense of ownership and loyalty, which is why members may show higher levels of trust and allegiance towards the brands that are born from or associated with.

Take Away: Find your micro-community (or DAO!) and start to engage and contribute. This will help and support the personal development plan and provide ways to get coaching, inspiration for projects, and make new connections.