You have to give consultant/author/speaker Don Tapscott credit where credit’s due: he’s got a gift for jumping on new tech trends. His latest project is mass collaboration, highlighted by the release of a new book next week called Wikinomics. For people who have watched Tapscott over the years, his track record includes Y2K, e-commerce, corporate governanance and, now, Web 2.0. This guy’s the ultimate high-tech chameleon who knows where his bread is buttered and has an uncanny knack for convincing people he’s one of the people with a grasp on a particular trend and where it’s going. It’s pretty amazing that he’s now seen (or, perhaps, billing himself) as a leading voice within Web 2.0 given a year ago Tapscott was still engrossed in corporate governance.
Tapscott is all hot air and little substance. He gives consultants a bad name. He epitomizes bad consultant jokes…asks you for your watch, tells you the time, but “what time is it?” was not the problem or the question….
Hey Eguy, why don’t you read wikinomics first. It’s based on $millions fo dollars of research. not only a lot of “substance” but the biggest research project ever conducted on how the new web will change business models.
Don
Hey Eguy, why don’t you read the book Wkinomics first. It’s based on $millions fo dollars of research — not only a lot of “substance” but the biggest research project ever conducted on how the new web will change business models.
Don
Au contraire! Wikinomics is naming an important new trend made possible by the same types of technologies Tapscott has been tracking for ages. The authors aren’t claiming they invented it – they’re pointing out what’s going on with insight and with many examples. It’s meant to get peoples’ attention and to spark ideas.
Don:
Thanks for contributing a comment….hmmm, as opposed to providing facts to retort a criticism (which I grant you was vague), you tell me to read the book…oh yeah, the book you co-wrote. Shameless self promoter once again…So how much of the book did you direct, write, and research?…or did you simply lend your name to work done by others?
I hope your book goes beyond the “web is turning business models upside down” theme with transparency, rich and deep content with broad distribution, collaboration enablement,…and all the other basic themes that any forward thinking technology savvy business person knows. Maybe you’ll hit on the media industry to talk about how slow they have been in embracing the web as they try to manage the exit of their print advertising dollars with the uptick in online advertising dollars but do not know or cannot create the right tools and content to capture online advertising budgets. This is like shooting goldfish in a barrel. But hey, it is based on millions of dollars of research so it must be forward thinking.
Thanks but no thanks. I’ll spend my book budget dollars elsewhere.
e Guy:
Go to http://www.newparadigm.com and download the first chapter — you can read it for free, then come back and report if you don’t agree with it.
Mark Evans has a great blog — let’s try to keep the discussion at a high level, rather than Ad hominem attacks. Sound fair?
Elliot
I read a good portion of the 1st chapter. Nothing in the chapter I read changes my view from my comments above. In a book, I look for deep insight, implications based on fact that are actionable, sound analytic reasoning supported by quantitative proof with a perspective on history.
I’m still looking…
I’m curious – after reading the Don Tapscott info, and the various Wikipedia entries, and the various websites he’s got set up for his various enterprises, this man seems smart, thorough and definitely intune with the technical world at large and the role it’s playing in our day to day lives. One question remains – why doesn’t he have a blog? The lack of one is just discouraging, and perhaps says more about the man that what is really written.
Hi Jules:
Don’s blog is at http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/
MD
Actually the above blog is not solely Don’s blog but a blog for the New Paradigm team. On the first page, there is only one entry from Don T. Interesting that some (as noted above) view this blog and attribute the content as “Don’s blog” whereas the content mostly comes from others. Hmmm, I wonder if there are parallels to other aspects of “Don T’s reputation”…