In today’s world, with all its social, economical and environmental challenges, knowledge is the primary source of innovation, sustainable value and wealth. We need creative thinking and approaches, because ‘more of the same’ will not create the sustainable solutions our world needs. The development and productive use of knowledge is therefore becoming the key process of value creation for organisations as well as for societies.
This fact changes the nature of work, organisations and the role of workers: work is becoming knowledge work, done by autonomous professionals working in networks, where relationships are based on reciprocal appeal. This means that the autonomous professionals are becoming the driver of innovation and success. They will only play this role strongly, if they can act as entrepreneurs: work from their personal drive and talents, free to take initiative and responsibility to develop themselves and to create what they see as valuable, and able to co-create a context that enables them to do this.
Loyalty, obedience and compliance were core values in the industrial economy. In today’s knowledge economy, these values will lead to mediocre results. Passion, talent, creativity, freedom and responsibility are needed for excellence.
In this article, I will elaborate why this kind of entrepreneurship is called for and will explore the consequences for individuals and organisations.