Economy	Trust in Business	Society & Politics	Ethics	Empowerment	Fast Growth Markets	About Us

The Global Human Capital Journal decodes and explains various facets of one of the most turbulent times in human history. It aims to help readers retool their thinking and actions to harmonize with the disruption of societies and business around the world. The Journal draws on my long career in advising global organizations and individuals on disruptive changes, as well as my experiences living in myriad cultures. Although the topics may appear “strategic” or abstract at times, I think you’ll find them immensely practical. The abstraction is necessary because, when one wants to decode and stay ahead, one needs to examine emerging patterns before they’re widely recognized. Read more about the Journal’s origins and point of view in About Us.

Sections of the Global Human Capital Journal

• Economy takes a macroeconomic lens to emerging patterns that affect business, government and individuals.
  • Trust in Business focuses on one of the most disruptive events in business and society: widespread neglect of relationships and trust in business; you’ve undoubtedly noted rampant mistrust and corruption in organizations of all types, in all countries around the world.
• Society & Politics reveals how digital social technologies and behaviors are profoundly changing how people live, work and govern. The drivers here are that humans are profoundly social and digital social tools change the cost of relating and collaborating. For humans, this is akin to changing a law of physics.
  • Ethics regards emerging technologies from a philosophical point of view. Technologies and methods such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, cognitive computing, and behavioral economics are rapidly affecting individuals’ rights and privacy, so the Journal decodes some of their current and emerging effects on people.
  • Empowerment reflects some of the opportunities and threats for individuals and organizations due to the fact that individuals in our digital age can harness the scale of communication previously only available large organizations. It advises individuals how to use these tools most effectively, and it counsels organizations on how to collaborate with empowered individuals.
• Fast Growth Markets addresses some overlooked aspects of the global economy, namely that “global” is relevant to individuals where it’s long been practically restricted to global organizations. Moreover, many countries previously viewed as “third world” are outgrowing mature markets, yesterday’s “first world” countries.
• About Us shares more background on the Journal.

Economy & Business

Since the emergence of the Industrial Economy in the 1750s, human work has been in the process of integrating individuals’ work. We’re becoming more explicitly interdependent in the digital age, and global. Business and culture, powered by digital communication, are becoming more dynamic, which requires individuals and organizations to adjust far more quickly than ever before. Organizations have been built to function in slow-change conditions, and their functions cannot respond quickly enough to people and markets, so they are in massive disarray, and most will fade via acquisition or bankruptcy because their leaders can’t or won’t transform. Individuals need to practice vision and strategy if they want to adapt and thrive in what used to be called “careers.” Therefore, Economy reveals some of “the new rules,” so you can react ahead of the crowd.

Select posts:

Even more posts on Economy.

One of the unintended effects of the pervasive industrialization of business and culture has been organizations’ impersonal regard of customers and employees. Executives don’t intend it, but they assume it’s economically impossible to relate to people as individuals and to build trust with them as the basis of their relationship, but they’re wrong: digital social technologies scale interaction and digitize relationship when used correctly. For most of human history, businesses knew their employees and customers personally, and this is the human way. Trust in Business gives leaders practical methods for re-establishing trust in their organizations.

Society & Politics

Humans have always lived in groups, and the circle is the fundamental human organization. Some human circles are families, nomadic bands, towns, cities, and countries. Each type of circle is held together by modes of communication. In families and nomadic bands, sitting around the fire or table at meals is the main mode of communicating and collaborating. Towns and cities have more people, so they have governments that reduce the number of people who need to be involved in decision-making for all the people in those circles. Nations scale governments even more, and supranational organizations still further. Now consider that all these systems’ modes of communication and collaboration have become outdated while markets have become more volatile. The result is that political organizations are badly out of touch with people, and governments serve poorly overall. Meanwhile, people connect and collaborate online and understand how badly out of touch governments are. This produces conditions for prolonged profound disruption. The Journal decodes some of these patterns, so you can adjust gracefully. Society & Politics has two sub-sections, Ethics and Empowerment.

Select posts:

Even more posts on Society and Politics.

New digital technologies are coming fast and furious, and their emergence is accelerating. Moreover, people increasingly observe the “world” around them through digital interfaces, and these are about to explode since all “things” like cars, clothing, furniture and even drugs are fast digitizing and connecting to the Internet. Like all human inventions these have intended and many unintended results, and they will profoundly affect how people live, so they are charged with ethical considerations. For the first time in history, their makers are for-profit businesses, many of whom are chiefly focused on profit, and ethical and social consequences are of less concern. The Journal attempts to call out some of the ethical issues that accompany these technologies.

More than any other section of the Journal, Empowerment speaks to individuals, for we are the fundamental building block of all circles, and we determine their fate. Our organizations are woefully behind the times, and they need our help. The same digital social technologies that have driven more volatility in markets enable us to organize and create ways to govern ourselves better, and they enable us to connect with governments and other organizations in new ways. They enable us to let businesses know what we want. However, Empowerment is a gold mine for leaders of organizations because it reveals how to engage individuals.

Fast Growth Markets

One of the most wonderful effects of the emerging digital global economy is that it tilts the sources of economic, political and culture power away from the Industrial Economy’s limited natural resources toward the Knowledge Economy’s relatively unlimited people resources. The Industrial Economy created “first” and “third” world countries. The former developed economic, military and political power by controlling natural resources. As detailed in the Social Channel, the old system is rapidly breaking down, and countries like China, India, Brazil, Nigeria and other populous African countries have new opportunity to thrive, both at home and by entering mature markets. Because these countries have many ambitious people, they can create tremendous value with digital social technologies. Their key challenge is that they are saddled with the same outdated political organizations as mature countries, so their paths are uncertain. Now companies in any country try to globalize by entering “foreign” markets.

At the same time, however, a powerful counter-trend is many natural and environmental resources are becoming more scarce, which increases competition and conflict.

About Us

Christopher S. Rollyson, Editor in Chief

Thanks for reading the Global Human Capital Journal. From my perspective, it addresses some of the most transformational aspects of our world. I’ve been told by many that I have a fairly unique perspective, and I hope the thoughts here give you some ideas that can help you harmonize with the changes in your part of the world.

Point of View

I founded the Journal to share my observations and empower my readers. As a student of history (see below), I observe that history-sized disruptions can have unpredictable outcomes, especially when people don’t have a full grasp of what’s happening. By no means do I mean to imply that I do have a full grasp—that’s beyond any mortal—but I may have some observations that can contribute to my readers’ understanding and ability to act. One of the most important patterns I observe is that human impact on Earth has scaled tremendously, and for the first time in history, our natural resources are limited. To survive, we will need to change many of our behaviors, which were formed during periods in which resources were infinite and our impact minimal. People don’t like changing their behavior, but it can be easier when they perceive the trade-offs.

Foundations

I studied history throughout my academic years because I was inherently fascinated in “the human story,” even though I thought it wasn’t very practical. However, I’ve since come to appreciate that history is extremely relevant during periods of fast disruptive change like ours—because events, technologies and behavior become “history” so quickly. The years elapsed are less relevant than the “density” of change. It’s helped me learn how to discern and predict historical patterns at a macro level. I’ve since learned to apply analytical technique and sensitivity to predicting things, which makes sense because patterns are patterns; they apply whether “past” or “future.” I gained practical experience by accident, while advising global organizations on their business strategies. This requires the ability to filter the relevant data out of a deafening amount of “noise” and to project it forward.

History

The Global Human Capital Journal was my first blog, which I launched in 2005. I’d already built websites for clients and myself since 1994, when I moved into hightech. Having been involved with pioneering some of the Web’s underlying technologies during the 1990s and having advised global organizations on business transformation during the early 2000s, I sensed that Web 2.0 (digital social) technologies were going to be even more disruptive, so I founded the Journal to discuss and share what I saw. In the Knowledge Economy, “human capital” is the most precious resource (unless underlying support systems are seriously compromised, a real risk), so the name refers to this fact. I’ve also covered conferences and highly visible business and political events as a “journalist” even though I usually bring a more strategic flavor to posts than most writers. I have interviewed heads of state alongside the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Reuters, and other global organizations.

Contact

If you have any questions about the journal or would like to inquire about a speaking engagement or event coverage, please reach me here.

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