Jonas Ridderstrale

Funky Business tells us that the new world is different. Forget the old world order. Forget what you knew yesterday. The revolutionary reality is that 1.3 kilograms of brain holds the key to all our futures. Competitive advantage comes from being different. Increasingly, difference comes form the way people think rather than what organizations make. Today, the only thing that makes capital dance is talent. In such times we cannot have business as usual–we need funky business.
Technology, institutions and values are being subverted and overturned. They are the triad, the inter–linked drivers of change, transforming each other and creating a global village of turbulance, tribes and fusion. We are deregulating life for ourselves and our children. Whether you like it or not, we are all condemned to freedom– the freedom to choose.

Capitalism has won. There is only one small problem. Is this what we want? Perhaps we should ask ourselves what price we are prepared to pay for prosperity. The opportunities for a richer life and for societies in which people have a genuine chance of realising their dreams have never been greater. It is an entrepreneurs heaven.
The democratic market economy is now the preferred choice. However, global market capitalism is not a political ideology. It is neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong – it just is. It is a set of principles or rules of the game. For most companies this new reality means that they are both under siege by increasingly powerful customers and held hostage by competent individuals who are free to know, go, do and be. To thrive, organisations need to take on the simultaneous task of taming talent and creating new customers.

In his speeches, Jonas talks about the how we can benefit from advances in IT and telecommunications – as an individual or a leader of a corporation. Dr. Ridderstråle also discusses the implications of institutional deregulation – on capitalism, nation states, political parties, companies, families, etc. Finally, he outlines the shift from a geographically structured world to one dominated by global biographical tribes and how this will influence life inside and outside our organizations.

​Today, most people live, work and have to do business in a deregulated global economy. More and more individuals enjoy the freedom of choice. In effect, a number of trends with a direct impact on what it takes to succeed in the new world of commerce are arising. Among other things, Dr. Ridderstråle discusses how we can capitalize on these freedom movements by understanding the shift toward increased calls for:
• Democratization: Information available at your fingertips
• Meritocratization: Why talent makes capital dance
• Migration: Winning the great global attraction game
• Customization: The customer as a co-designer/producer
• Feminization: The new world of Shenomics
• Personalization: When one size no longer fits all
• MANipulation: Nip/Tuck and why 80 is the new 60
• Fragmentation: Why we are Bowling Alone
• Tribalization: Profiting from the Peoples Republic of Paris Hilton
• Polarization: Get ready for the double economy