Consider this consulting question:
“If I were re-creating this company today, given what I know and the current level of technology, what would it look like?”
Sounds like a contemporary social business question, right?
It could be, but the original context predates “social business” by two decades. It’s the key question from “Reengineering the Corporation,” a classic business text. Its subtitle? “A Manifesto for Business Revolution.”
You probably know what happened with reengineering. It quickly gained a negative reputation for being a management fad and excuse to lay off staff. Not exactly business revolution.
But no question, social business seems to ask the exact same key question of organizations today — with an intent of corporate revolution.
Whither social business?