Generative Business Practice: Questions from Harvard’s Digital Initiative
I got lots of feedback from the folks who participated in the HBS Digital Initiative seminar where I presented some big picture ideas about generative practices. As promised, I’m […]
Only Transparent AND Open Practices Generate Opportunity For Your Network
Businesses need to be both transparent and open to create opportunities for themselves and their entire network. Yet even though we know that qualities like “open” and “transparent” are preconditions for innovation, […]
Why Be Disruptive, When You Can Be Generative? Friday Afternoon with MakeLoveNotPorn
Some businesses aim to make money. Some businesses aim to disrupt their industries. The very best businesses aim even higher — to generate new opportunity for each and every stakeholder. It […]
Are All Generative Businesses a Little Naughty? The case of MakeLoveNotPorn
No startup challenges our norms about ‘appropriate business’ more than MakeLoveNotPorn. MakeLoveNotPorn (MLNP) is a user-generated crowdsourced video platform that celebrates “real world sex”. MLNP is a legal, lucrative, and liberatory […]
Generativity, in General
The word ‘generative’ may be unfamiliar to many business people, but the quality of generativity is something we’ve sought in our companies and our work practices for a long time. […]
Three Design Principles for Generative Business
As I was being nudged to consider whether the term “boost” really captured the central dynamic of generative businesses, I realized that it actually only represented the very first element […]
What Makes Digital Tech Companies Models of Generativity?
Buffer, WordPress, AirBnB, Waze, LoveWithFood, ModCloth, Etsy— so many of the organizations I’m using as examples of generative businesses share a similar profile: They are relatively small, young, organized around […]
5 Reasons Why Generative Businesses Are So Powerful
I’d rather help one organization become generative than help a dozen organizations become ‘great’. Why? Because one generative organization has more positive impact on the world than a whole industry […]
How Can We Boost Other Businesses Through Our Products? Initial Ideas
Ever since I fell in love with the concepts behind APIs, I’ve been on the lookout for ways that companies can boost others through how they conceptualize, create and distribute […]