It was seven years ago that I posted for the first time from the domain name Conversation Agent. The promise in my test post was:
In observing what is happening to the marketplace and the blurring of traditional business roles, it has become increasingly clear to me that what we have called the experience economy from the famous book by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore and the new conceptual age with Daniel Pink, has become a conversation.
One where content and product producers, delivery channels, audience and customers come together to define the future of work and the creation of meaning. The meeting of the minds resulting in commercial and intrinsic value.
I have found myself the interested participant and learner from this conversation, the dynamics of which at times inched it closer to a dialogue. One quite like William Isaacs's definition in his book Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together; a space and series of actions, both verbal and non verbal, where people create the new from the ideas and energy they contribute.
This forum is dedicated to investigating and extending the knowledge acquired and the lessons learned while moderating Fast Company magazine readers' network business discussions in Philadelphia and during my work. The plan is to integrate brief interviews with practitioners from diverse fields and industries, observations on current and future trends of work, and digests on useful tools with your observations.
Welcome to the conversation.
Here are the conversations, the thoughts on trends, and a few pivotal posts defining what Conversation Agent does, as well as what Conversation Agent would do, and what it is about as well as how we're all working on the same question for the future of work.
Each year, I also used to compose summaries of the most popular posts for the year.
- We had a little fun in 2006 with how many bloggers does it take to change a lightbulb?
- In 2007, it was about my best marketing conversations
- The following year, best conversations of 2008
- Best of 2009, the Year of Execution
- Best of 2010, the Year Social Went Operational
Seven years and 2,222 posts later (about 1.3 million words, conservative estimate) I find the content remarkably close to delivering on that initial promise through a couple of corporate jobs, running my consulting practice, and two agency strategist roles later#.
It has become popular to talk about rebooting.
Words are powerful and thus it is meaningful to be specific. As I said a couple of days ago, seven means a major human OS release is in the works.
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That's where I've been and what I've been thinking about. If you've been sitting on the fence, reading and sharing posts, now is a good time to use the comments box to ask questions.
Blogging and this form of conversation is rich with data about what we're thinking about. Let's think together.
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Valeria is an experienced listener. She designs service and product experiences to help businesses rediscover the value of promises and its effect on relationships and culture. She is also frequent speaker at conferences and companies on a variety of topics. To book her to speak click here.