Lauri Elliott

Originally posted at htp://www.afribiz.info/?p=2137.

Shashank Bengali of McClatchey Newspapers wrote “Africa is gripped by one of the greatest population explosions ever recorded” in a recent article entitled, “Africa’s Perilous Baby Boom.” In fact, while it is widely reported that India’s population (1.6 billion projected) will surpass China’s population (1.4 billion projected) by 2050, Africa will beat both with a population close to two billion according to the United Nations Population Division.

Bengali paints a picture of the horrible conditions under which and into which many children are born in Africa.  However, the problem is the conditions not the population growth.  Africa is a continent that has vast resources, which if managed effectively, can sustain a booming population.  In addition, Africa as a region has one of the lowest consumption rates globally when compared to developed countries. 

In fact, this population boom is a tremendous global business and economic growth opportunity.  Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, shares the world can no longer expect U.S. and Western households to drive global economic growth.  Developing markets like China, India and Africa are the future economic growth engines.

This shift sounds frightening to many in the West, but no one has to lose.  Businesses and entrepreneurs globally need to shift their strategy to account for this phenomenon.  Remember, the United States served as a major channel for China and other countries to grow their economies.  The pattern does not have to change, but the roles the actors play.  Africa, China and India can be used to drive economic growth in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, in the future.

 

Part of this shift requires a change in the way the African population is viewed.  C.K. Prahalad, in “The Bottom of the Pyramid,” points out that businesses have traditionally treated the poor and disenfranchised as victims instead of consumers.  Businesses tend to devalue these populations without taking into account the current and future value of these markets, if developed.  Businesses have the opportunity to create their own consumer markets while solving endemic problems like poverty.

Once businesses see Africans as consumers, they need to consider the challenges faced by their consumers and those challenges in serving them, including those painted by Bengali.  The key is to design a business model accounting for and overcoming these challenges. 

For example, Africa lags far behind in broadband coverage, yet the World Bank noted that broadband coverage contributes to economic growth.  Also, if it is available, it tends to be expensive.  Two companies, SEACOM and O3B Networks, have taken on the challenge to cover Africa with affordable broadband within five years.   SEACOM has already landed in over ten countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.

In addition to the potential, businesses need to consider the importance of timing and position.  Now, is a perfect time for many businesses to position themselves in the African consumer markets.  Nations recognize this.  While China looks to Africa resources, it is not the only reason.  John Lee, in “China Woos Africa” points out that China is positioning itself to take advantage of the growing (in size and income) African consumer market. 

 

In another example, could the potential in the African consumer markets be one reason the U.S. government is shifting from supporting food aid in Africa to investment in agricultural systems?  Remember, part of the role of  diplomatic missions in foreign countries is to further the interests, including economic, of a nation.

On a final note, the issues and problems of Africa continue to provide fodder for the media more than the potential of Africa.  But there is a hidden message in all of it for entrepreneurs.  Entrepreneurs will recognize the challenge of Africa not as perilous or problematic, but as potential and powerful markets.

This is an article written by Hilton Tarrant and myself as part of the ICT in business sector series for Brainstorm Magazine in South Africa.

There is no question that the healthcare sector in Africa represents a huge challenge and opportunity. The question is how, and how well, ICT will meet the challenge.

Most African countries have a critical shortage of healthcare workers, and the majority of African healthcare systems are low-ranked internationally, according to the World Health Organisation.

Dr Dirk Koekies, Chief Executive Officer of GeoAxon, states plainly that the challenge is “creating a healthcare system out of nothing, which can deliver quality basic primary healthcare services to those without it”.

While this situation is a critical challenge, it presents a tremendous opportunity for ICT in the health sector. The opportunity is particularly good in the mobile sector (mHealth) due to the penetration of mobile phones on the continent.

The United Nations 2009 report mHealth for Development says: “Mobile phones reach further into developing countries than other technology and health infrastructures.”

One mantra for mHealth is “make available the right information at the right place at the right time and in the correct form,” according to a 2008 Rockefeller Foundation report.

This mantra, when actualised, translates to several benefits, according to Tyson Greer, CEO of Ambient Insights.

First, clinicians and patients can make more informed and intelligent decisions. Second, real-time data is provided for communication, consultation and notification. Third, mHealth increases efficiency and speed of care, and increases productivity of healthcare workers. And finally, it provides on-demand access to information and continual learning for healthcare professionals.

There is a unique opportunity to provide ICT-based products and services to the private healthcare sector.

Firstly, because private sector healthcare already represents a good portion of services provided to Africans compared to public healthcare. And secondly, African governments are using private healthcare providers to augment and enhance public healthcare systems, which are overtaxed.

This creates a sizable opportunity for ICT firms. Specific business opportunities in mHealth, according to the mHealth in Development report, include education and awareness, remote data collection, remote monitoring, communication and training for health care workers, disease and epidemic outbreak tracking, and diagnostic and treatment support. Koekies also says that developing centralised, electronic medical information records is a low-hanging fruit opportunity.

GeoAxon is delving into business opportunities presented in diagnostic and treatment support. Its “Tele-medicine Doctor in a Box” allows a doctor to examine a patient over the internet, using devices the patient interacts with locally. These devices transmit data, which would normally be assessed in a face-to-face consultation with a doctor, remotely to the physician.

While mHealth seems to be gaining momentum, it still has several challenges. mHealth is still in the pioneer stage with many projects in pilot, but little empirical evidence to prove its impact. Koekies indicates that funding for innovative solutions is still difficult to come by. And while the technology may be there, the ecosystem for the mHealth sector is still immature.

Recognising that eHealth*, and mHealth, are still emerging markets in Africa with high potential, ICT firms might want to first look for low-hanging fruit opportunities and those that leverage its strengths.

Big opportunity

The healthcare market is huge. A recent report by research and consulting outfit Markets and Markets says the healthcare IT systems market will be worth $53.8 billion in five years’ time.

One of the major areas of growth in the space is tele-medicine. This is by no means new technology, with policies put in place and applications created over a decade ago.

A new push, by networking giant Cisco, is through a pilot programme demonstrating that tele-medicine is real and it works. The so-called HealthPresence programme saw remote clinics linked up in Aberdeen, Scotland and San Jose, California.

This service provides what Cisco terms “care at-a-distance over the network”. It uses Cisco’s TelePresence teleconferencing technology, with patients and physicians able to see life-sized images of one another. The system also collects physiological data from a variety of linked devices such as a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter and other diagnostic equipment.

The Aberdeen trial started in January last year and found that 90 percent of the patients who used the technology were satisfied with the experience, 95 percent said the visit felt confidential and 93 percent said they would recommend it.

“In almost every case, we could accurately identify the degree of urgency and make a diagnosis,” said Dr James Ferguson, national clinical lead for the Scottish Centre for Telehealth.

He added: “Cisco Health- Presence can enable us to deal safely and effectively with 90 percent of the cases we see.”

The Medical Research Council is currently running five separate tele-medicine projects around the country.

Obviously bandwidth constraints mean that the implementation of tele-medicine is difficult in both South Africa and Africa. In addition to bandwidth, the MRC identifies other obstacles such as the lack of easy-to-use, robust diagnostic instruments and no dedicated tele-medicine centre to act as a hub for tele-medicine.

The deployment of terrestrial fibre networks in South and East Africa, as well as the commissioning of Seacom, has helped solve the bandwidth problem, however.

At a recent exhibition, Seacom showcased healthcare teleconferencing applications, and earlier this year at GovTech 2009, Moses

Mtimunye, then acting CEO of Sita, said that in the near future, similar technologies to Cisco’s TelePresence “will make for commercially available tele-medicine projects providing people in rural areas with world-class healthcare services”.

The national Department of Health says its long-term goal is to “make tele-medicine live up to its potential as a valuable tool to improve access to high-quality and cost-effective health care services in South Africa”.

Beyond structured implementation of tele-medicine systems, Cisco believes that HealthPresence could mean a revolution: “Instead of making a dash to an urgent care facility or emergency room, what if you could use your television or other networked device to connect with a medical centre?”

Cisco believes this is not fantasy, it reckons it could become reality within the next three to five years.

*eHealth is the use of ICT for health services and information.

This is a post-show note for the radio segment, “Power Push:  Using the Strength of Leadership.”  You can check out other radio broadcasts I host at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/art-of-biz.

We focused on the role of leadership in business on November 5, 2009.  In research done by Dr. Bruce Winston and Kathleen Patterson, more than 90 variables of leadership were identified.  That can make the task of understanding, much less acting upon, leadership complex.  However, the correct working definition of leadership upon which an entrepreneur or organization acts makes all the difference, particularly during challenging times.

Our conversation started with a definition of leadership by Dr. Myles Munroe, “Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by passion, generated by vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose.”  Brett Johnson, developer of the LEMON Leadership model, says this is a picture of the visionary leader.  But, he adds, leaders also allocate resources and build structures in which people can be successful.

Brett agrees that everyone is a leader in space unique to them.  This fits well with the leadership paradigm proposed by Charles Manz.  First, a person learns to lead him or herself (self-leadership). Second, a person becomes a leader of others.  Third, a person helps others become leaders (super leadership).

In this paradigm, our organizations and society is filled with leaders.  Some ask the question, but there have to be followers right?  True.  A person leads other in his or her unique space while following others in their unique spaces.  As Brett points out, this is a characteristic of the shift from hierarchical (control-centered) organizations to networked (authority-centered) organizations.

Brett brings a new perspective with the concept of leadership identity.  Leadership identity is a blueprint, or DNA, of who you are as a leader.  As with your psychological identity, it is not something that can be changed.  However, they both can be discovered as you learn more about who you were designed to be.

In the LEMON Leadership model, a person’s leadership identity can be characterized in five leadership types – Luminary, Entrepreneur, Manager, Organizer and Networker. Brett says that people have a primary and secondary LEMON leadership type.  He also found a leader resorts to the strengths of his or her primary LEMON leadership type during the best times, but resorts to the weaknesses of his or her secondary LEMON leadership type during the worst times.

With all the insights we discussed, it still comes back to the question how does leadership make a difference in my business?  Simply, leaders are people who make things happen.  Brian Klemmer describes these type of people as “creators, go-getters and aggressive producers in society.”  Sounds like the entrepreneur, right? Because you are one of these people, you can transform a failing business into a successful one.

 

But…And a BIG but.  Klemmer points out that these individuals often lack ethics.  On the show, Brett and I looked at the current economic crisis in the leadership context – greed overrode ethics.  Leadership in business and society is not about how much you can get for yourself, but how much you can get for others and yourself in a positive, sustainable manner.  It’s about creating win-win situations.

So, when we speak of the “rise of the entrepreneur,” we are not only speaking about the potential of the entrepreneur to create monetary prosperity but also to address society’s issues – poverty, illness, crime.

There was so much more that we discussed on the show.  Take the time to listen. (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/art-of-biz/2009/11/05/Power-Push-Utilize-Your-Strengths).

If you would like to learn more about the LEMON Leadership model, you can purchase the book at Amazon.  To contact Brett Johnson, visit The Institute’s website (http://www.inst.net).

And don’t forget to stay connected with The Art of Making Business Happen community at http://artofbiz.ning.com and http://www.blogtalkradio.com/art-of-biz.  You can even join the community.

While the world is struggling with economic crisis and social unrest that will result, Christians need to understand the times.  The Christian community was forewarned of this crisis, but many refused to listen.  If you did not listen before, listen now and learn about the good news of what God is doing.

John F. Kennedy said that the Chinese word ensemble for “crisis” means both danger and opportunity.  Paul spoke of a great door of opportunity open to him, but having many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:9)   Opportunity and obstacles go hand in hand.

The shaking and shifting we see occuring in world systems is the change of an age, of a generation.  While disturbing and unsettling, we need to focus on living in the new season, the new age.

If we see situations through God’s eyes and we trust Him, we have peace.  The Word says that there will be stability in our times.  During these times, we are the agents of stability as we are used as God’s vessels to bring His will to the earth.

The new age is the Vision Society.  A society based on the kingdom of God.  While the world systems are shaking, this kingdom is arising from the shadows to bless God’s people and bless the nations of the earth.  This is an age of strength for the true body of Christ.  This is an age where we will tangibly be the head and not the tail.  There is no reason to fear what is happening, but every reason to have faith in God.

This post is about sharing what I understand of both the sacred and secular view of this new age.  First, you can read another blog post, “Vision Society: An Overview,” to acquaint yourself with how the Vision Society will appear in the world (secular).  Second, you can watch or listen to the teaching, “Vision Society: A New Age,” to learn the spiritual (sacred) strategy and structure behind the Vision Society.  You can access this teaching below.  May you  be richly blessed.

Video Teaching
Audio Teaching
Slides

One of the paradigm shifts in our global society is moving to an entrepreneurial culture.  This means that the entrepreneurial “lifestyle” will be a significant influence moving forward.  This cultural change will influence companies and consumers alike, so businesses need to understand what will influence success in this new age.  One of the defining characteristics is creativity. 

We had an energizing show about creativity and business on October 29, 2009.  We were joined by Dr. Lynne Levesque, a creativity expert and author of “Breakthrough Creativity.”  Our show discussed how creativity is a strength and imperative in business, as well as the thought that everyone is creative.  The concept that everyone is creative aligns with the concept that everyone is an entrepreneur, or someone who creates.

Dr. Levesque presented an excellent definition for creativity, “ability to produce different and valuable (useful) results.”   She said that people, who were considered creative throughout history, produced something of value.  It wasn’t just about brainstorming ideas.

Another aspect of creativity is its relationship with innovation.  Levesque says creativity is something that belongs to an individual while innovation is the ability of an organization to pull out creativity in its employees to produce great products and results for its customers.

Levesque supports the thought that everyone is creative, but each person’s creativity manifests differently.  It’s something that is within every individual.  The creative process, including tools and techniques, is what develops the creativity within individuals.

The eight Creative Talents, e.g., Visionary, Harmonizer, are aligned with the eight personality types proposed by Carl Jung.  Levesque says all the Creative Talents are necessary in successful business and on teams.  It is interesting to note that all the Creative Talents are at work in every person, but in varying degrees.  A person will have a primary and auxiliary Creative Talent.

In closing the discussion, Levesque spoke of the importance of entrepreneurs knowing their creative strengths, then determining if they and/or their teams represent all eight Creative Talents.  Also, entrepreneurs need to:

• find ways to respect the differences in the Creative Talents
• remain open as a leader
•  work on a culture incorporating creativity
• have goals and metrics.

In all, the process to develop the creative culture is embedded into the team building process, not a separate task.

To learn more about the eight Creative Talents, access resources and contact Dr. Lynne Levesque, go to http://www.breakthroughcreativity.com.  To listen to the show recording, go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/art-of-biz/2009/10/29/Power-Push-Living-Life-as-an-Entrepreneur.

To share in other discussions on The Art of Making Business Happen, check out our show page at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/art-of-biz.  You can also follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/theartofbiz.  Join our online community to become more involved at http://artofbiz.ning.com.

This is a part of the ongoing series I write on ICT across sectors for ITWEB/Brainstorm Magazine South Africa.  This article is on manufacturing.  It was a collaborative piece with Hilton Tarrant who focused on South Africa while I focused on the African continent and global trends.  Enjoy!

Originally posted online at Brainstorm Magazine.

ICT is a key enabler for the manufacturing sector. It’s transforming the global manufacturing arena while opening opportunities in the African market.

Africa lags behind its global counterparts in industrial and manufacturing development. Even when comparing the percentage manufacturing contributes to the gross domestic product (GDP) in African countries to other developing countries, manufacturing contributes about ten percent in African countries and 21 percent in other developing countries.

In Africa, but outside South Africa, there are pockets of manufacturing success stories. The Ethiopian leather industry has made a name for itself in global niche markets. Robert Parker, group VP of research for IDC Manufacturing Insights, says the one significant manufacturing segment in Africa is the remanufacturing of computer and electronics.

However, the picture is getting brighter. Globalisation, innovation and ICT are transforming many sectors to anywhere, anytime platforms. In the manufacturing sector, the mantra is “design anywhere, make anywhere, sell anywhere,” says Parker.

One shift is product manufacturing, separated into tasks and spread across manufacturing facilities. This is seen as a huge opportunity for new, smaller manufacturing entrants in low income countries, including Africa, according to the Industrial Development Report 2009 by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Parker speaks of a similar shift from mass to micro to pod manufacturing. Historically, manufacturers built one facility to serve the world. With pod manufacturing, manufacturers can download designs and methods from anywhere to localised manufacturing equipment to serve the local economy.

Pod manufacturing has reduced cost tremendously and increased flexibility. For example, there is equipment to manufacture wine, starting at $3 500.

Parker also says that local African manufacturers will be able to “bring more diversified and custom products to their local consumers”. For example, Digiskin allows customers to go online to design skins to cover gadgets, including cellphones.  A company can purchase a production machine to provide some of these skins locally to customers.

For a long-term opportunity, Parker says that African governments need to leverage access to their abundant resources and require firms to develop manufacturing and processing facilities locally alongside extraction operations. In some instances, deposits in Africa may account for 80 to 90 percent of global deposits of certain precious minerals or metals. They need to play the leverage game like China. China recently limited the export of rare metals to boost the price. African governments can use the same principle in a different way.

In every aspect, ICT is embedded in the manufacturing value chain from infrastructure to intelligent manufacturing. Without sufficient broadband infrastructure, approaches like pod manufacturing might not be possible.

Parker also sees another opportunity with the pervasive wireless infrastructure in Africa, allowing African firms to tap into and manage the full manufacturing value chain almost anywhere with technology like remote sensing and radio-frequency identification (RFID).

While there may only be pockets of manufacturing on the continent, the global manufacturing shift opens new, even immediate, opportunities for ICT firms looking for new pastures, e.g. industrial clusters in Uganda and Tanzania, as they develop. It will be important for ICT firms to continually scan the environment to take advantage of these emerging opportunities.

Manufacturing convergence

Further south, leveraging information, communication, control and power is helping South African manufacturers innovate and compete.  Manufacturers have two options during the global economic downturn: cut back and try to weather the storm, or take the opportunity to be more innovative and aggressive. However, because South African factories struggle to manufacture products at the same cost as is possible elsewhere in the world, and due to a strong currency, local manufacturing concerns face these two options all the time.

Rockwell Automation believes that even though convergence has become a cliché over the past decade, “today the combination of technology maturity and economic necessity has made manufacturing convergence a manufacturing reality”. Manufacturing convergence sees the merging of functions and systems that have been separate. The theory is that with people, processes and technology working together, manufacturers can perform better.

Convergence within manufacturing leverages information, communication, control and power.  It’s no use simply having systems and machines recording data. Information must be in a manageable form: the new goal is presenting information in context.

Sources of information can be “streamlined to allow configuration, visualisation, maintenance and optimisation of manufacturing processes and plant assets,” Rockwell says.

Immense value is created when IT and manufacturing departments are able to share information seamlessly and securely, while running multiple applications over the same network. An enterprise manufacturing approach that is particularly suited to larger distributed companies envisions the enterprise as a “virtual manufacturing network”.

EOH, during an implementation at Coca-Cola’s greenfields Bloemfontein plant, was able to capitalise on available technologies while the rest of the group used mostly manual or semi-automatic systems. In time, improvements to its other factories will mean that they can join the network across the Coca-Cola SABCO enterprise.

The trend nowadays sees standard, unmodified Ethernet being adopted broadly across the plant and enterprise for data collection and real-time control. Add to this newer functionality such as voice, video and mobility, which are beginning to appear in the plant environment.

However, despite these advances, manufacturing convergence is a complex environment and cannot be delivered by a single supplier. Locally, system integrators like Bytes and EOH implement solutions from companies as varied as Cisco, Microsoft, SAP, Wonderware and Dassault Systems.

Beyond this, original equipment manufacturers are embracing new so-called “smart” service business models enabled through embedded software, wireless connectivity and online services.  This shift has significant implications for manufacturers.

Lifecycles of products are becoming ever shorter as releases will begin to ship in “real-time” with software devices delivered to products over networks when needed. Oracle’s manufacturing VP, Manish Modi, reckons it’s hard to accurately predict what manufacturing operations will look like five years from now, but “factors we experience today are likely to have a residual effect on the supply chains of tomorrow.”

Modi says that many of the top manufacturers will have leading “service-oriented architecture suites in place to enable supply chain evolution as well as needed flexibility to quickly respond to changing markets and inevitable shifts in buying patterns”.

He also suggests that most manufacturing systems will support Web or Enterprise 2.0. “The future adoption of tools like wikis, blogs and mash-ups to create store, and collaborate on information by skilled manufacturing users should not come as a surprise. Touch screens and sophisticated wireless devices should be a common part of leading factory floors.”

But, the biggest problem in converged manufacturing is not the availability or implementation of technology: it’s changing the mindset of the people themselves.

Originally posted at www.afribiz.info.

The one-two punch of mobile phones and high-speed bandwidth on the African continent is fueling a boom in the ICT sector.  The  “Information and Communications for Development 2009” report by the World Bank says that voice communications offered through mobile telephony has lead the way for people in developing countries to realize the potential of ICT for economic and social development, and that broadband expansion is “catalytic” in the development of trade and e-government.  Expect the ICT sector to drive how you do business with Africa and open immense opportunities for doing business in Africa over the next five to ten years. 

Availability of high-speed broadband in Africa will increase over 200% in the next few years.  The first of the undersea fiber cable projects, SEACOM, provides high-speed international broadband to East and Southern  Africa .  This is not only important for the Internet market but also for the mobile phone market as consumer experience converges to the mobile platform.  In addition, the African mobile market remains one of the fastest growing markets worldwide.

Another interesting trend in the ICT sector is the rise of East Africa.  South Africa has been the clear leader in ICT sector development in Africa, but the Eastern African Community (EAC), including Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, has prepared itself to serve as a competitive ICT hub to South Africa and other global regions.  The SEACOM project removes one of the few remaining obstacles to this vision.

Many of the trends in the ICT sector are causing the African consumer markets, which were traditionally considered too small and too disconnected for many firms, to become connected and consolidated.  For the first time, African consumer markets are able to tap into real-time data and firms outside the continent receive real-time data from Africa.  For example, local farmers are able to check market data for their produce, empowering them during business deals.

As a business person or investor, the opportunities in the ICT sector are not only in the wave of infrastructure development projects, but also the products and services that can be provided over these “virtual” trade routes.  To give yourself a glimpse into some opportunities in the ICT sector in Africa, review the:

• “SA ICT Rocks!” article
• “Kenya is Calling” article
• “Moving Ahead with Education” article
• “ICT Business Opportunities in the African Consumer Markets” radio broadcast.

 You can also check out brief profiles for the ICT markets in each African country this month by subscribing to our daily BizBits twitter feed.

Just as there is an evolving shift within our society from operating from the physical to mental to spiritual, we will see the same in the economic sphere.  To start, Adam Smith in the “Wealth of Nations” said that the determinants of economic growth, or activity, were the factors of production – natural resources, labor and capital.  Here, there is no recognition of the impact of the mind and spirit on production leading to economic activity, or growth.

Knowledge has been considered a part of the process of economic growth, even by Adam Smith.  However, it has not been until the past 50 or so years that economic theory has focused on knowledge as a factor of production.  Paul Romer, a leading economist in the “New Growth Theory,” stresses that ideas, new and better, transformed into a change in technology contribute to economic growth like natural resources, labor and capital.

The original factors of production are considered scarce, or limited, which means that economic growth is limited at some point.  On other hand, ideas (innovative knowledge), is unlimited.  Human beings can generate unlimited new ideas.  In fact, we are designed in the image of God, so as He is the Creator, we are creators.  The key is to transform these ideas into technological change.  The world calls this the process of innovation.  We, as Christians, call this bringing heaven to earth.

So, knowledge as new and better ideas transformed into technological change leads to economic growth. The result – a world filled with unlimited economic growth potential because our ability to create new and better ideas is unlimited.  This changes our mental model from scarcity to abundance, want to wealth.  The question becomes how do we develop an economic system based on this premise?  This is the challenge of today.

Let’s tie this to the evolving societal shift in our primary mode of operation – physical to mental to spiritual.  We can see as knowledge has become more significant in the mix of economic growth, that organizations see unique intelligence, innovation, etc. key to their competitive advance.  It’s not that the importance of technological change due to innovation has not been recognized.  We understand its contribution to the Industrial Revolution, e.g., the steam engine.  However, the drive in making it prime in positioning a company continues to grow.  The intellect, or mental sphere, is now a central mode of operation in our economic systems.  We even have a phrase coining its importance, the “knowledge economy.”

Let’s take another look at knowledge.  There is knowledge derived from interacting with our physical environment, pulled from our intellect and emerged from our spirits.  Today, we focus on knowledge pulled from our intellect.  In the Vision Society, it will be knowledge emerging for our spirits.

In the Vision Society, we see the best source of knowledge coming from the spirit not the intellect.  We call this revelation knowledge. However, revelation knowledge shapes the development of our intellectual knowledge.  We still learn within and from our interaction with the physical environment and intellectual exercises, but the spirit serves as the navigation system.

As Christians, we understand that revelation knowledge comes from God depositing his knowledge in our human spirits through the Holy Spirit.  Our personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the channel. 

It will be revelation and relationship, which serves as anchors in the new economy.  Revelation leading the process of innovation, as well as the markets operating through relationships, which tie groups of people together closely or loosely.  We see these concepts evolving in areas in the science of networks, social networking, mass innovation, etc.

While we are still grappling with the picture of the new economy and how it will operate, there are many who have pieces of the ultimate picture.  Brett Johnson of The Institute is one of these visionaries.  In a Kingdom Economic Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa last year, he shared a comparison of characteristics between the old economy and the new economy.  The comparison is below.

Old Economy	New Economy
Self-reliance	Dependence on God
Logic	Obedience
Man, nature, self as source	God as source
Gaining, hoarding	Giving, flowing
Finite	Infinite
Greed, self serving	Serving greater good
Fear	Trust, generosity
Selling birthright	Persevering in long-term
Debt	Cash, capital, hard assets
Ownership	Stewardship
Protection	Freedom
Worry	Liberty
Running out	Running over
Storing	Flowing
Accumalting	Giving
Boosting myself	Blessing others
Temporal	Eternal
Scorns source (God)	Remembers source (God)
Elevation	Consecration
Meeting my needs	Serving God’s purpose
Mine to keep	God’s to direct
Control	Releasing
Postured to speak	Positioned to listen
Avarice deified	Avarice denied
Demanding	Grateful
Restlessness	Restful, calm
Striving	Surrender
Hurry, hustle	Rest
Wisdom of man	Wisdom of God
Insatiable	Contented
Calculation	Revelation
Immediate gratification	Delayed gratification
Personal legacy	God’s glory
Do as I please	Accountability
Natural	Supernatural
Lack	Abundance
Need	Wholeness
Own effort	Favor

Published in “Kingdom Economics,” (c) The Institute for Innovation, Integration & Impact, Inc. 2009, by Brett Johnson

Put in the Christian context, Brett compared the evolution from the old economy to the new economy as the Israelites moving from Egypt to the Wilderness to the Promised Land.

As the Vision Society becomes more prominent and its impact on the new economy evolves, we also need to consider the concept and purpose of wealth and money.  Check out my initial thoughts on the role of money in my blog article entitled, “Is Money the Answer to Fuel a New Economic Order?“

A society is “an enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another,” as well “a part of a community that is a unit distinguishable by particular aims or standards of living or conduct” as defined by the Merriam-Webster (www.m-w.com) dictionary.  In other words, a society is a group of people in relationship and interacting with one another cooperatively focused on a common purpose.

A Vision Society is one filled with purpose.  The distinct drive of a Vision Society is that its members function in the pursuit of purpose, both individually and corporately.  It has a unique tapestry of people, individually distinct yet woven together for a common future.  It is neither a collective or individualistic society characterized by dependence or independence, but interdependence and interconnectedness.  Each person has a “unique” space, identity and purpose, serving a particular function in the corporate body of a Vision Society.

The interplay between the individual and corporate aspect of a Vision Society is best described by an analogy to the human body.  The human body is a system designed to work as one but with individual parts performing their own function.  A well-performing body means each part is fulfilling its function working in harmony with the other parts.

While I cannot say there is complete harmony, there is a greater harmony in the Vision Society because people understand their “unique” space and their individual identities.  They focus on fulfilling the purpose of their “unique” space, which means they are less likely to focus on what others are doing or not doing and freely working within their space to achieve their unlimited potential.

At the individual level, each person lives a life continually learning, exploring and fulfilling his or her unique purpose on this world. Visions that derive from their purposes serve people, intending to benefit the greater good.  Their lives of purpose operate on selflessness not selfishness.

Societies have evolved over time.  Sociologists suggest that societies have evolved according to their primary manner of subsistence, e.g., hunter/gathers, agrarian.  Subsistence is what is necessary to support life like food and shelter.  If you are familiar with Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, subsistence represents the lowest level of needs – physiological.

I suggest that societies have evolved according to paradigm shifts between driving needs rather than forms of systems maintaining subsistence.  However, concepts of subsistence and wealth are embedded in the continuum.  Subsistence represents the bare essentials for a human body to function not to be fulfilled or satisfied.  Fulfillment includes the entire completion of spirit, mind and body.  If we take a closer look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we see paradigm shifts occurring at each level.  As a person develops or as certain needs are met, he or she first moves from focusing on physiological needs to safety needs.  From there, the focus shifts to belonging to esteem to self-actualization.  Kurt Goldstein described self-actualization as a driving force which leads to people realizing their full potential.  Maslow later added another level called self-transcendence in which an individual, or self, gives to an inner experience of a greater unity of entities.

The human being is composed of spirit, mind and body.  As a person develops upward through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, he or she shifts the center of his or her mode of operation from body (physical) to mind (soul) to spirit.  Self-transcendence represents operating out of the spirit and self-actualization represents operating out of the mind.  In the eye of the spirit, a person recognizes his or her true purpose, identity and vision connected to the greater society.

 

Human societies have evolved in the same manner in which the primary influence on how people operate shifted from physical to mental to spiritual.  The primary influence on how people operate in the Vision Society is the spiritual dimension.  We are on the cusp between human society operating under the primary influence of the mind to the primary influence of the spirit.

The concept of wealth also evolved as human society evolved.  First, it shifted from living a life of subsistence to one of accumulation of wealth.  The definition of wealth also shifted from monetary or physical assets to intellectual to spiritual.  In today’s society, there is a more holistic approach to wealth, which includes spiritual, social, intellectual, physical, financial, etc.  However, the seat of true wealth is the spirit.  Wealth is an inner-orientation not an outer-orientation.

As mentioned before, human society is on the cusp of entering the Vision Society age.  Who will be the standard bearers for this?  It will be the children of today and tomorrow.  As adults, we will help usher our children into the Vision Society as we learn more and dip into it ourselves.  However, the children will innately and inherently have an affinity and perception for the Vision Society, working through each of their spirits.

The Vision Society will ultimately dominate how our economic, social and political systems and institutions evolve and operate.

We constantly hear about how the universe is one and that we are all connected.  In fact, our universe is actually one system with many complex sub-systems and parts.  Our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, has a grand plan for this universe – us included – to be wholly one. 

I want to share what I understand of this purpose of God, as well as what I understand of the Church’s role and our individual roles in it.

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