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Rosabeth Moss Kanter is one of the most revered names in business management. She holds an endowed chair at Harvard Business School, is the former editor of Harvard Business Review, has published numerous articles and books, and travels the world consulting for large corporations. So, why is she having so much trouble writing a good book lately? On the Frontiers of Management, published in 1997, purported to cover the frontiers of business management, yet it didn’t have a single reference to the Internet, Internet companies, or the new business culture that was arising with the Internet. Oops! Her latest book, E-volve! Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow, seems to be designed to atone for that omission. It is devoted entirely to the Internet’s impact on business. The problem with this book is that it offers little new insight into the phenomenon. You would think she had discovered the Internet. At times, her newbie enthusiasm is so unbridled it is embarrassing. Take the chorus to "Evolve!," a song she wrote that starts out the book.
"Get ready for the next step, Give Kanter credit for great packaging. She has wit. The writing zips along. The book is stocked with good case studies. There are enough useful aphorisms to populate a daily calendar. But anyone who has paid any attention to the Internet phenomenon will find remarkably few new ideas in the book. Consider the seven "truths of e-culture," which Kanter describes as "the new truths for success in general." These seven truths are the foundation for the book. The problem is that these truths are hardly new and that many "truths" may prove to be short-lived. The first truth states: "E-culture is about creative destruction. It means getting serious about continuous dramatic change, even if it destroys your own already profitable business." Hello. The theory of creative destruction was developed by economist Joseph Schumpeter more than 50 years ago, well before the Internet was even a dream. Certainly, dot-coms yakked about creative destruction more than most business people, but it turned out to be them, not the bricks-and-mortar companies, that were destroyed. The fifth truth says: "E-culture is made up as you go along. It involves emergent strategies, improvisation in response to opportunities." There is no doubt that much of what passed for business strategy on the Internet was made up as people went along. Just look at how many of the companies failed. But, whatever happened with the Internet, the idea that companies have to move faster to stay competitive is, again, not new. The pace of change has been quickening for decades. It did reach a frenzy with the notion of Internet time, but that idea turned out to have problems, as companies that got to market first were in many cases the losers, not the winners. The seventh truth states: "E-culture can be a lot of fun. Companies compete for talent by staging the goofiest games, sponsoring the most exotic trips, and stocking the most lavish snack bars." But the trend toward a more relaxed workplace had been going on for years before the Web came along. The dot-coms actually gave the trend a bad name by taking it to such an extreme. A loose work environment too often turned into an excuse for missed objectives, sloppy software, and overspending. Of course, there are new ideas that arose with the Internet, and old ideas that gained new force and validity. Kanter does a good job of articulating them, even if she is late in discovering them. In the end, the importance of her book may be that, because Kanter is so well-respected by Fortune 500 companies, she gives legitimacy to many of the business ideas that gained prominence with the Internet. Think of E-volve! as the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on e-culture. Now that these ideas have been adopted by the establishment, it is time for some young, radical, entrepreneurs to go out and create some new ones.
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