Your respons is towards the report of LBS about in our view the first generation XP Economy.We believe that XPEC is a symptom for much deeper structural changes in our society. We believe in a development that companies cannot manipulate peoples emotions and experiences anymore for strictly commercial intentions.A company is part of society and transparancy about its values is a requirement.Organisations have to create a meaningful role towards people and society. We are called the Eur.Centre for the XP and Transformation Economies.Our staff is engaged in making a meaningful contribution to a world where we can help to bridge gaps that you are describing. Your initiative is an excellent example of communicative self steering what we support full heartedly. Thanks for your feedback

Your respons is towards the report of LBS
What is LBS?

about in our view the first generation XP Economy.

To my point of view i am not reacting on the first generation of experiences. Also to the generation in which companies contribute in the process of transformation of people lives.
What I am referring to is that, before companies can contribute to transformation of people, they need to think of their OWN position in the economy and network. What do they do in order to close the gaps of which we are talking about? How is their responsibility towars de medio-ambiente (planet) and society. Like NOMAD, offering spiritual trips to India is not a strategic way of closing the gap. In my opinion is a marketing activity, social activitity. I am referring in involving it in their vision and strategy.

We believe that XPEC is a symptom for much deeper structural changes in our society.
OK

We believe in a development that companies cannot manipulate peoples emotions and experiences anymore for strictly commercial intentions.

SO; HOW THEN? What should companies do then? What is the opinion of XPEC?

A company is part of society and transparancy about its values is a requirement.Organisations have to create a meaningful role towards people and society.
AND ENVIRONMENT: NATURE

We are called the Eur.Centre for the XP and Transformation Economies.Our staff is engaged in making a meaningful contribution to a world where we can help to bridge gaps that you are describing.

WHAT DOES THE ECXP DOES IN ORDER TO BRIDGE THESE GAPS?
If you talk about making a meaningful contribution to world to help bridge gaps, what do you think of Social Responsible Entrepreneuring: People, Planet, Profit concept. How does the experience economy relates to that?

We describe and study changes in the relationship between society, organisations, individuals and economy. We make clear that there is more in life then only economic value. Experiences are the guidelines of our life,either painful or joy.The power in the western society is shifting to the individual,, this is not the case in the countries that live in poverty. If companies do not redefine their role they will be out of business in the near future,see our book.We consider our job to create insight and knowledge,and share those insights. We are not a political organisation.Social entrepreneurship and PPP makes a lot of sense to us.

I think people will demand that companies are socially responsible. People will simply not buy an experience (say designer shoes) that has involved child labour: The shoes just don’t ‘feel’ right if you know they are created with child labour help. Experience is therefore not only about (good) Design, staging memorable experiences requires a holistic view. Philips is demanding that all its suppliers confirm to their sustainability policy and has a separate annual sustainability report in which it reports the state of affairs to the public. The underlying reason is to help the environment and developing countries, but Philips also wants to affirm its self-identity, its brand image as a company that cares for people (healthcare, lifestyle focus). It also motivates employees.

Dear Mijke, Thank you very much for your reaction. The passion you obviously have for this issue just drips off the screen, something I recognize and value highly. I will try to explain how I see the position of experiences in an effort to solve some of the issues you touched upon in your piece. First of all you may have noticed that I speak of experiences instead of an experience economy, since I see the economy as just one part of society. The goal of my research was (in part) to find out what was new about experiences, where they come from (why is there so much fuss about experiences since the last couple of years) and what we are dealing with (are they a hype “brought to you by” marketeers or are we dealing with something much more fundamental here)? Anyway, if I summarize your reaction (your email was in Dutch so to engage our fellow non-Dutch visitors in the discussion), you state that experiences should not just consider interactions between business and consumers (but also many other actors, government, NGO’s etc) and, related, that the goals organisations should pursue should be much broader than just serving their own interests (your examples of companies in South Africa that are trying to help solve AIDSproblems, companies in Brasil that are making a stake within equality-issues, etc.) Let me start with the last point: broader goals. Very important point. Solution in my opinion: education. What is happening at the moment (and has happened before) is that companies are claiming to do new things, but still within the same logic they had. The goal is not experience now, the goal still is profit, or shareholder wealth, or financial value growth, or whatever. Zuboff and Maxmin give great examples of this doing the same thing within the traditional logic in their book the Support Economy. What do we want companies to be, what role do we deem appropriate for them in the world? They too should become reflexive on their goals. Good thing is, that smart companies do what the paying public wants them to do, so if enough people want them to become responsible, want them to get involved with larger issues and goals, they will have to. With all the info that is available now wrongdoings have more chance to come out and the internet connects millions of people who can get the info around the world in a second and take action if companies won’t. It all starts with people. We can all have utopian ideas about what the world should look like but people ultimately decide what the world is going to look like, if we like it or not. The positive note is that more and more people are less accepting of following the crowd and the rules and traditions if they don’t agree and technology gives us the opportunity to try and do something about it. Still everything starts with educating people about the consequences of actions, about the difference between focusing on the short run and the long run, about what is true, good and beautiful and what is not. Then your point about engaging more actors. This is getting much attention nowadays. I personally like the Trust-Value dilemma model of Singh e.o. who look into the dynamic relationships of organizations with all their constituents (intermediaries, governmental agencies, consumers, etc). The dilemmas in this model concern finding a balance between your own interests in the short run (Value) and the interests of you and the others in the long run (Trust), which influence each other. Another interesting angle is the analysis of different social relationships by Fiske (that has gained much attention in the last years exactly because of the problems you also describe). Market Pricing, the traditional relationship within business is a much weaker relationship in many ways than other types of social relationships and it even clashes with these other relationships (ever tried to pay a friend for being a friend? Ever tried to pay a police officer?). For long institutions have done their utmost to give us the impression we had influence but in the meantime often did their own thing. Many theories and models and empirical studies show that that time is over. Interaction means that the individual invests value in the relationship so if companies want to have interaction with their customers, they won’t get just the financial value anymore, they will get the whole package. That alone causes a need for more openness in the logic of business. But logic means thinking and a change in logic requires a change in thinking. Education, education, education (did I mention education?). I could go on and on, but I think that the main points are: Experience is not about Disney or Nomad or Nike or whatever, experience is about how people make sense and give meaning to their lives, no people, no meaning, no experience. Organizations (for a big part because of the technological advancements, but also because of several societal and cultural developments) are losing power to (groups of) individuals so if individuals want change, they are getting more opportunities everyday to make it happen. The whole issue in my opinion boils down to the education of individuals, how do we teach individuals to think? Here (http://www.aacsb.edu/publications/Archives/JulyAug04/p24-29.pdf ) you can read the PDF ‘Hollow Men’ of Sandra Waddock, she about sums it up. Just some thoughts, like I said I could go on and on but this was meant to be just my first reaction. I look forward to your and other people’s further ideas on this topic since it touches the core of experience. PS1: LBS is the London Business School

In the Netherlands some days ago a meeting took place which was called Klaar om te wenden? More then 900 people attended (the event being organised in just 6 weeks!). All those people are more or less involved in the change which is occuring right now in society on a deep level. Don Beck, Ervin Laszlo, Peter Merry and Herman Wijffels expressed their vision on the new wave which will take place. You can read more in summaries, view the videos or listen to the audios on my weblog http://www.hansonexperience.com/my_weblog/seminars/index.html
It all comes down to value-drive leadership. Both from the individual as from the companies and institutions.
Especially take a moment to listen to the speech of Herman Wijffels

Thank you Anna for your reaction and your sensitivity! I am sorry I did not reply to you earlier. An unexpected visit of my brother and preparations for an unexpected trip to Cuba, kept me from replying to your words. Actually this time my reaction is short, because I agree with a lot of your thoughts:

If I may start with your last words:
“The whole issue in my opinion boils down to the education of individuals, how do we teach individuals to think?�

Education, learn to think, yes I agree, but more: to FEEL. Learn individuals to FEEL…..Although this seems very easy and “normal�, to me it is missing in society, western society. We are so full with information, concepts, activities, theories, doing things, experience things, our heart seems overloaded, that we miss the connection with our deepest feelings. I agree totally with the article of Sandra Waddock, great article, thank you

One of Sandra’s words: (related to BUSINESS SCHOOLS)
“Integrity; we need to teach students to care about more than markets. They must understand social and human values such as love, community and spirituality; connection to self, others and nature; and the drive of finding meaning.�

I believe that `thinking` we use to manage life living from the heart. Without feeling our heart, thinking has no use….

But to come back to the experience economy. You wrote that you are talking about experiences, but actually you are working with the Centre of Experience ECONOMY. Do you believe in the concept of an “experience economy” then?

I’m glad that you liked the article of Sandra Waddock. And concerning your remark on teaching people to think: I agree that feeling is a huge part of the process. I just see true understanding and wisdom (often considered the result of thinking) as a combination of thinking and feeling so I think (or feel? ;-)) that we agree. However: the experience economy. I see the economy as a part of society, no more, no less. However, it’s a part of society with a lot of influence and at the same time a part of society that has become more and more restricted. Economy, to me, is about values, and not just about the financial values but all values: everything that is deemed valuable to people. It’s about choices, about preferences, about culture. We choose so we have the responsibility for our choices and the results. In that sense I don’t see a dilemma. The exchange of money is just one of many kinds of social relationships. It’s what we choose to do with it that counts. It’s all about perspective. Schumacher has written a great classic on this: Small is Beautiful: Economics as if people mattered. Highly recommended book.

I have been following the conversation and I am glad that the thoughts and feelings are converging and that there is so much passion about this subject which I too have close to my heart. I develop leaders and in that process the total values and the relationships with contituents is critical to gain commitments that integrate the visions of a wide constituency and brings their aspirations and needs together. In addition leaders enable others to act. This can be through education and training, but more often than not it is to invite them to take in the larger system and its wide-flung relationships and take accountability for that in their functioning. This educates both the heart as well as the mind - in essence it makes conscious what was unconscious and it brings back to mind what is already known. The practice of coaching is so much inline with the experience economy that it takes my breath away. Most people only require opportunity and a renewed sense of their personal dignity to rally and invest immense quantities and qualities of energy in their newfound self-control or self-steering. As they progress and take on bigger and better, and become broader aware and deeper aware of relationships formerly beyond their horizons they learn and grasp in a natural way what that means to them and what that means to their own constituents. Leadership is the foundation of all of this and the good part is that like autopoietic systems (living and self-organizing systems)it replicates itself and shares power freely thereby exponentially making power available to others who also replicate this and so on. I find that if not the key, leadership is an important operant process in Arnold’s stability layer of communicateve self-control or steering. Mangement has for so long been a blight on the human spirit that the healing process will take a while, yet the human spirit is resilient and when given a trusting opportunity people will rally to take their natural place in the world based in their own vital design (Jaworski).
I must say though that from my observations Europe is far ahead of the US in terms of actualizing these concepts and philosophies. The profit motive and the social control or regulatory control systems are alive and well (think of Sarbanes Oxley). IN Europe, though I see the EU promulgate ever more regulations and bureaucracies, there is a blith sense of “let those guys in Brussels do their thing, it does not represent me” Of course it does impact society, yet it has not penetrated the civil obedience yet as it has been inculcated over the years in the US. That is just my opinion from seeing both system close-up.
PLease continue the good work on that side and I will continue to develop leaders here in the states. I teach leadership at the MBA level.

Onze gepassioneerde Mijke Bos heeft volstrekt gelijk. Zij is duidelijk een aanhanger van TREC (Transformation Economy), de opvolger van EXEC. De taak van moderne MVO ondernemingen is een visie op een betere wereld te ontwikkelen en alle stakeholders daartoe te begeleiden (”envision and guide” zijn haar hoofdtaken).
Our passionate Mijke Bos is a adherent of TREC (transformation economy), the successor of EXEC. Envision a better world with all your stakeholders and guide them to materialise that world, that’s the task of a postmodern company. But that next stage in the development was allready predicted when the EXEC emerged.