E-Volve!

Renowned thinker and business trailblazer Rosabeth Moss Kanter says answers will be found not in cyberspace but on the ground, where real people connect, collaborate, and form thriving human communities. In this eye-opening book, Kanter explores what she calls "e-culture"-a new way of living and working that will transform every aspect of today's organizations.

Kanter argues that networks of relationships, not just new technologies, permit speed and seamlessness, encourage creativity and collaboration, and release energy and brainpower-the "soul" of e-business. And every organization-from dotcoms to dotcom-enablers (technology and service providers) to wannadots (traditional companies struggling to embrace the Web)- must learn to build and foster them.

Based on a landmark project with rare on-site access, over 300 interviews, and a 785-company global survey, Evolve! provides a hands-on blueprint for adopting the core principles of e-culture: treat strategy as improvisational theater; nurture networks of partners; reconstruct organizations as online and offline "communities"; and attract and retain top talent.

With colorful and memorable stories, Kanter illuminates vast differences between older, more conservative companies and aggressive, born-digital dotcoms. She takes us deep inside evolving organizations-including IBM, eBay, Reuters, Sun Microsystems, Razorfish, Abuzz, Barnesandnoble.com, Williams-Sonoma, and pioneering public schools-to provide best practices from e-culture pacesetters and cautionary lessons from Internet laggards. Defining the skills leaders need to master change, she reveals how dotcoms and dotcom-enablers can grow fast while crafting a great culture, and how wannadots can benefit by becoming Web-enabled.

For anyone who wants to realize the potential and avoid the pitfalls of the Internet age, this pathbreaking book identifies and analyzes the emergence of e-culture-and provides a lively, roll-up-your-sleeves guide to profiting from tomorrow.

Contents

• Introduction: The New Economy Lobotomy
• Chapter 1: Online Communities and Offline Challenges: How the Internet Affects All of Us
• Chapter 2: Alice in Tomorrowland: Will the Young Lead the Way?
• Chapter 3: Lipstick on a Bulldog: Why Cosmetic Change Doesn't Work
• Chapter 4: Waves of Raves: Strategy as Improvisational Theater
• Chapter 5: Connecting the Dots: Nurturing Networks of Partners
• Chapter 6: From Cells to Communities: Deconstructing and Reconstructing the Organization
• Chapter 7: People.com: Winning the Talent Wars
• Chapter 8: On Track to Tomorrow: Getting Change Rolling
• Chapter 9: Leadership for Change: New Challenges and Enduring Skills
• Chapter 10: Changing Ourselves: Human Skills and Social Evolution
• Appendix A: Cast of Characters: Company Descriptions
• Appendix B: Selected Survey Findings: The Global E-Culture Survey
• Index