For years I’ve been trying to do a book a month, and this year I’ve made it further than any in the past. Currently 7 for 7, and the most recent book was Bob Iger’s “Ride of a Lifetime.” I could do a separate post on the takeaways from it as a whole, but I zoned in one point that I wanted to work through a bit more.
Disney made more than a few acquisitions during Iger’s tenure, with one of the most recent (and biggest) being Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. During the early stages of the negotiations, Iger recounted standing in front of a whiteboard and breaking up all of the assets from Disney and Fox into two categories. Content & Tech. These two categories have represented the future of business for the past few years, in my opinion.
Content & Tech
Please ignore the lack of aesthetic. The assets were split into these categories on the left and right sides of the board. Then he added physical entertainment and goods in the middle. Can’t forget how profitable those plush Mickeys and Baby Yodas are.
“This is what a modern media company looks like.”
We hear a lot about how brands are media companies. Distribution channels for their merchandise and “ethos.” Disney uses Content & Tech to push their wonderful world of imagination forward, into the homes of millions around the globe.
When you pair this realization with the growing trend of our population to consume, it paints an interesting picture for the future of work and business.
Enter Naval
Disclaimer: I love this guy. Never met him, but he has been changing my life ever since he went on JRE a few years ago.
The above is part of Naval’s now famous “How To Get Rich” thread. I’ve spent (admittedly) too much time focusing on the impacts of automation and how it can affect the repetitiveness of my day job, and other functions outside of work as well. It’s a bit scary. You start to ask a few questions. Do I have the skills to future-proof my employability? Am I learning the skills necessary to utilize the technology that will be available? If I can’t write code, do I need to learn, or would I be able to provide value to other consumers by writing, recording, creating? I’m leaning towards a bet on the latter, hence the blog. *wink*
Of course, this doesn’t apply to every industry. There are plenty vital roles that don’t fall into content or tech categories. Plus, on the topic of automation, general reliance on technology and cookie cutter processes don’t lend themselves to the irrational unpredictability of humans. Cultivating environments that welcome productivity and creativity is much more an art than a science. The human touch is needed to mobilize groups of other humans.
Because of that, a third category outside of Content & Tech has arisen.
Community
As I’m writing this, the Tokyo Olympics are playing in the background. I’ve seen multiple Facebook ads pushing Groups and how great it is to find your community. People are searching for places where they belong. Places where they can bridge their online interests and real life activities. Transferring this into the professional sphere, I pop on LinkedIn and see job titles like “Community at X” more often than the terrible sales rep posts.
(This is a good thing)
With the careful curation of a community, a brand, product, or content series can reach audiences at a borderline infinite scale. People who resonate with the brand because of the community and what it stands for spread the word across platforms, delivering earned media and displaying a community publicly that others may want to join.
Effectively, you’re expanding your sales and PR team without the added headcount.
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Content. Technology. Community.
Seems to me like the future of media lies in these three categories. But it is community that brings the content and technology categories to life.
You need something for people to consume. And you need something to help get it there. But then, you need the community to bring it to life.
You can automate processes all you want, but you can’t automate a community of people who represent (or attempt to represent) the ethos of your brand.
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These are just my thoughts on the overall landscape. I don’t quite know how it all looks, but it’s fun to follow and ponder. I could be wrong about it all. If that is the case, I would love to find out why.
"Content & Technology"
Content is so much easier to consume through the advancements in technology but ultimately it’s the community that drives what is consumed. Whether it’s a Star Wars fan club or your favorite nfl team, creating a community creates a stable base of consumers which in turn drives up profits. It’s through the medium of technology that these communities are easily formed and the content is easily consumed.