This is ultimately a story of working heroes. Of individuals who press forward each day against great odds and snares, to make a living and a local impact. We turned the camera first to the Carpenter, outlining his common quest and zooming into the tools he uses to wage daily battle. His fight is against the entropy of entrepreneurship. Of course, most heroic stories involve a supporting cast while the main Hero remains the pinnacle of the plot. In this series of writings, we’ll be taking a bit of a Post Modern approach to our business technology tale. As the audience of an epic, we’re often asked to imagine ourselves as part of the main Hero’s community, cheering them on and sympathizing with their trials. The centred-out individual gets special treatment despite the valour and equality of others. In truth, every member of the supporting cast has their own community rooting for them. And they too are Heroes. The main hero earns their distinction by being the survivor who reaches the big objective and completes the quest. In this tale the band of heroes make it through together, returning to their home bases with a new hope for life and liberty.
We are collectively on a quest to enter the Second Age of Mobile Business. The heroes forging ahead are an unlikely cast of collaborators and journey partners, but isn’t that always the case for big adventures? We’ve met the Carpenter but who else is uniquely positioned to pass on the skills and insights needed to get where we’re going?
Over many posts, and through hundreds of images, diagrams and videos, we’ll be introducing you to an array of characters but this initial group below forms a basic core that will see us through. In no particular order we present to you the Heroes of the Second Age:
The Street Vendor
The Small Farmer
The Carpenter
The Shopkeeper
The Skilled Labourer
The Mover
The Mechanic
The Salesman
The Inspector
As with a time portal or star gate, the place we’re trying to get to is ultimately just a step away. Our challenge, the big task of the characters above, is to acquire the right information and insights quickly enough in order to assemble the needed technology that helps us leap ahead. Looking past the valley of apps and subscriptions and other forces of time and money depletion, a new horizon is showing itself. In our tale, the special technology can only be completed and put into use when the makers and users have a clear picture of how and why it operates.
If our heroes can succeed in all of this and enter into stronger competition with their white collar colleagues, the outcome is likely to be a greatly enlarged pie not a re-divided one. Our cast of workers thus far have been bound by the tools and business models of the White Collar world that naturally created tools and models in its own image. The time has come for each side to learn from the other, for a better balance.
Is it possible that the ways of the working world offer simpler approaches to all kinds of tasks and quests? Call us crazy but this looks very likely!