elevator rap

the following is the elevator rap from

The Cluetrain Manifesto:
The End of Business as Usual

cluetrain.com

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Elevator Rap
David Weinberger

	when
(Inter)networked Markets	meet	(Intra)networked Workers
*The connectedness of the Web is transforming what's inside and* outside your business — your market and your employees.**
Through the Internet, the people in your markets are discovering and inventing new ways to converse. They're talking about your business. They're telling one another the truth, in very human voices.	There's a new conversation	Intranets are enabling your best people to hyperlink themselves together, outside the org chart. They're incredibly productive and innovative. They're telling one another the truth, in very human voices.
between and among your market and your workers. It's making them smarter and it's enabling them to discover their human voices. You have two choices. You can continue to lock yourself behind facile corporate words and happytalk brochures. Or you can join the conversation.

The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
Copyright © 1999, 2001 Levine, Locke, Searls & Weinberger.
All rights reserved.

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searley says... Minimize this comment

One shouldn't take for granted that everything communicated over intranets is "the truth." For all their virtue, electronic networks closely mimic traditional ones. It's foolish to think that office politics and biases -- intentional or unintentional -- aren't actively at play.

erikfurlan replies... Minimize this comment

I agree. One can't just assume something is "the truth" because it is coming from a "real person" as opposed to a filtered, constructed message.

erikfurlan says... Minimize this comment

Maybe it's just me ... but this too is coming off as a bit angry and antagonistic, even confrontational.

brookcorwin replies... Minimize this comment

I'm going to withhold judgment for now in hopes that it will provide examples of companies failing because they don't get this memo. Right now, it seems business is still doing fine operating under the old model, tweaked to incorporate new media

kford8 replies... Minimize this comment

I definitely agree with that because intranet sites are highly censored and watch carefully. And futhermore, on the intranets sites I have used, it was very impersonal and traditional tone.

davidakennedy replies... Minimize this comment

How many businesses are just putting up fronts still? Fancy websites, some YouTube videos and a Twitter feed... Presto, we GET it. Really?

davidakennedy says... Minimize this comment

I think it's important to realize the audience here. If it was truly docile, old-school business people, then this needed to scream a bit. And it does.

"emilydoelling" says... Minimize this comment

Having information available-that may or may not be factual-is not a guarantee for smarter employees and markets.

kburrows replies... Minimize this comment

all this shouting is giving me a headache.