The Network Always Wins

by Peter Hinssen

Wat als markten sneller veranderen dan bedrijven? Dit is een boek over snelheid, consumenten en organisaties. Een survivalgids voor wie de toekomst in handen wil nemen. In het huidige digitale tijdperk zijn de traditionele bedrijfsmodellen immers steeds minder relevant. De tijd van fluïde organisaties en de 'network native' is aangebroken. The Network Always Wins toont aan hoe de kracht van het netwerk organisaties in dit nieuwe tijdperk kan maken of kraken, en hoe je die energie kan aanwenden om je organisatie wendbaar te houden. Enkel op die manier kunnen bedrijven een rol blijven spelen in een onzekere toekomst. Want het netwerk is overal, en zal altijd winnen. Dit boek biedt een origineel en radicaal vernieuwend venster op de moderne organisatie aan de hand van verrassende inzichten uit management, astrofysica, wiskunde en moderne geschiedenis. Het is even leerzaam als aangenaam om te lezen.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

231 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2014

Reviews

[Tijmen Godeke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Het was een boek wat ik nog in de kast had liggen, en zo las het ook. Een paar aardige anekdotes maar verder kwam het ook niet. Geen aanrader.

[Laurent Michiels · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think much of the book did not particularly provide support for its main theme--i.e., how networks will change businesses and how organizations should cope with these developments in a practical way. Instead the author spiced the book up with many stories from fields like physics and mathematics. Yet despite drifting off from the main theme now and then, I still found the book an easy read.

Overall I believe I would have been more satisfied reading this book in its year of publishing (2014) rather than now as many topics covered such as MOOCs in education, the digital self in healthcare, and personalized marketing are--although interesting--not the eye-opening insights to me anymore.

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading this book, which I found quite inspiring. Well written, including interesting bits and pieces about the history of information technology, VUCA, innovation, how networking becomes increasingly important,... Gives a good feeling of some important evolutions taking place and provides references to other interesting reading in this context.

[Koen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another inspiring book by Peter.

A great mix of history, science, math, physics, economy, start up ecospheres, future vision, it, tech, great people and great books,etc. Always a boost for the brain!

[Hugo Demets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toen ik dit boek in de boekhandel zag liggen kocht ik het omdat ik dacht dat dit boek over sociale vaardigheden (netwerken) zou gaan, maar het gaat meer over de kracht van reeds gevormde netwerken, en dan meer bepaald in de biotoop van de auteur, de technologiewereld. Uiteindelijk vond ik het wel een interessant boek, maar het is meer beschrijvend dan praktisch van aard. En soms is het écht theoretisch, als de auteur begrippen leent uit bijv. de kwantumfysica. Enige achtergrond in de techwereld lijkt me wel vereist.

[Thomas Vanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Hinssen schetst een aardig beeld over toekomst van marketing en bedrijven. Als je de bedrijven in heden observeert zie je meer van zijn principes terugkomen. Het boek is toegankelijk geschreven, door de vele verhalen en voorbeelden. Als je een efficiënte lezer bent, kan je 60% van boek overslaan en bepalen welke verhalen nuttig zijn. Het boek is verniewend, mist daarom een praktische aanpak.

[Yordi Verbeeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hinssen goes in depth into the concept of networks. Though the matter can be a bit abstract at times, he uses a lot of examples to prove his point.
Definitely worth a read if you're interested in how communities/companies could evolve in the future.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed listening to the audiobook while jogging. Peter Hinssen is really an inspiration who knows and feels how our society and economy is evolving. I really enjoyed all the very relevant backstories of companies of the past (and the future) and I agree that technology is a very natural (and unstoppable) force. The only thing that was missing is his view on basic income, which is quite inevitable if this evolution continues. Quite sure he'll mention it in his upcoming AI book. :)

As it was more difficult to write down all the inspiration I heard, at least a few quotes/thoughts that stuck:

- The customer is no longer loyal in the age of networks, everything is based on relevance (and that's okay)

- Being anti-fragile is more than being resilient: you don't just need to resist the shock and stay the same, the anti-fragile absorbs the shock and gets better

- (Kevin Kelly) We are merely helping hands in the evolution of Technology. Technology is using us, to take itself to the next level, it is a vector, a force of nature, we didn't invent it. (Douglas Adams) Planet earth is the ultimate computer and we humans are part of the fabric of this huge organic computer, that will compute the answer to the ultimate question of life & the universe.

- (Kotter and Perlman) The era of the knowledgeable networker: a new breed of employees who are integrative thinkers with broad interests and connections, these networkers see how puzzle pieces fit together, without needing to know everything about each piece. They know lots of people and have a lot of information sources. Organisation needs to become a network of networks.

- The importance of the triune networks within a company: the core (hidden) innovation network (=basis of any start-up), the social network (=connections between people), the structured network (=roles of people) all need to thrive and add to the organisation's strategic evolution.

- A modern marketer needs to understand that (1) averages are out (2) if you want to be interesting be interested (3) trust needs to be the essence of all you do (4) you have to follow the latest tech and neuroscience developments. In general: be a network thinker or you will not survive.

[Tom Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful. Easy to read and hard to put down.

[Geert Hofman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Peter Hinssen is a formidable presenter and show man, introducing topics that urgently need to get wider attention in the community at large and in businesses specifically. I had the pleasure of attending several of his presentations and they all had the intended effect on the audience. He is in other words a great wake up call evangelist, introducing a sense of urgency to an audience that is for the most part satisfied with business as usual. At the same time you always have the impression that he is selling his services in these presentations. You hear a consultant talking and presenting himself as the guide who can help you on the right track, be it the need to think digital first or act on the fact that the network necessitates another way of doing business. Of course you can't really blame him for that because it's his way of earning money.

However, when writing a book you would expect somewhat more depth and less shallow, commercial, irrelevant chitchat. Not so in this book (nor in the other books I've read). It remains a fact that his main topic, the prominence of network thinking and acting for businesses, is a crucial one. The way he tries to explain why this is the case and in what way networks are the way forward for all kinds of organisations, he stays very much on the surface. He tries to obfuscate this shallowness by introducing some scientific hot topics like thermodynamics and quantum mechanics, but these efforts don't really amount to much more than window dressing. He would have better written a much shorter book, keeping to the essence of the subject. The fact that since the prominence and ubiquity of omnipresent and instantaneous network connections between people and organisations the way we communicate and interact has radically changed (at least as drastically as since the invention of language, the written word and the printing press), is spectacular enough as not to need gratuitous embellishment of not directly related sexy topics like quantum mechanics.

The book is worth a browse through but you better skip the Wikipedia style written factoids that are spread throughout the book, which isn't easy as it takes up about half the book.

[Beata · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want my $35 back!

A weak, unoriginal and disconnected thesis on the need of today's organizations to change their internal structures to better deal with the fast-changing flow of business information and markets. No! Really? You don't say!

The author attempts a science lesson via an almost random selection of history trivia, at the same time completely ignoring women's contributions to it. He also cites examples from biology, physics, and astronomy - large, complex systems capable of dealing with chaos and / or destruction to re-invent themselves - to convince us that our orgs need to emulate those tried and successful systems. Unfortunately, the author had no practical advice about how to accomplish this.

Corporate name dropping, self-congratulating references and totally unnecessary "don't be scared, I won't throw too much math at you" comments made for a frustrating and totally unsatisfying read.

This book adds nothing new to the organization management field of study and can be promptly ignored. I suspect Gary Hamel a lecturer at the Senior Executive Program at London Business School, and whom the author mentions quickly in the Epilogue, would have a much more interesting and educational story to tell.

P.S.
Please hire a graphic designer to bring your diagrams into the 21-st century.

[Martijn Euyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Hinssen argues that the world cannot be understood by using existing conceptual models. The world of today and tomorrow is VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity). Based on several examples, he sketches that the models of the past no longer suffice in order to understand dynamic systems (networks).

Networks dominate the course of events and companies should transfom into networks to keep up. He also gives some examples of how scientific models change the view of the world and he also provides examples of how the dynamics of networks affect markets.

I think that the correlations Hinssen sees between scientific axioms and the way networks operate is sometimes a bit forced. In this book Google, Amazon.com, Uber, Salesforce.com are used as examples to demonstrate that companies should change. These examples are a bit worn out in my opinion.

What is actually new? Since ancient times, networks determined the course of events. Networks hardly differ since then, but are faster and more widespread because of the current technological possibilities. I do agree with Peter Hinssen that companies should take (the dynamics of) networks seriously and should align their strategy, culture and processes to them. This requires not only a "digital" but also a "human transformation".

[elidesc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Net zoals bij When digital becomes human kreeg ik dit boek als souvenir mee na de eerste Disruptive Innovation Day in Brussel. De meest recente schrijfsels van de organisatoren en keynote speakers Steven Van Belleghem en Peter Hinssen dus. Het boek van de eerste las ik begin dit jaar en recent wisselde ik mijn romanmomentum af met een streepje non-fictie van de disruptievere soort: over hoe te overleven in het tijdperk van onzekerheid, het tijdperk waarin netwerken altijd overwinnen.

Lees meer via http://elidesc.com/2015/06/09/the-net....

[Margot van Brakel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great & must read business book. The book shows from a wide range of perspectives how our world is changing and what this means for companies (but you can also imagine what it will mean for you as a individual). I really like the historical perspective Peter uses in his chapters to show how things have developed over the past decades. It is easy reading and because it's so intriguing you'll want to keep reading on till the end.
I have also attended a presentation by Peter (you can also see plenty on youtube) and the energy you feel there is also present in this book.

[Jack Oughton · Rating 5 out of 5]

You look at the title and perhaps you expect yet another shitty business tome prattling on the same old platitudes about connecting with your customers via social media, etc etc

Instead what you get is a fantastic popular science book that shows you how concepts such as graph theory have lead to the increasingly complex world we now live in. and more importantly, how they apply and can be applied, without digging too deeply into all the equations and mathematical framework behind them.

delicious brain food, very clear and very well written. recommended!

[Nick Lenssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Applying the simple concept of thermodynamics to the world of business organisations...from super fluid to frozen and back. Makes sense!