I think one can easily substitute “Information Renaissance Leaders” for OL leaders here and nothing changes because these are the same attributes an Information Renaissance Leader has.

The last three sentences in the paragraph are very insightful and are something we, as Information Renaissance Leaders-in-training, should give attention to. These sentences are:

“But where will these much-needed transition leaders come from? Can they be produced by our customary management education? Bill Obrien thinks not.”

First, where will the much-needed Information Renaissance Leaders come from? I would say that they will come from our ranks here in CICS since leadership is one of the skills that a CICS graduate learns as they go through the program and is one of the shared values.

Second, can Information Renaissance Leaders be produced by a customary management education? Before answering this I feel this statement made by Bill O’Brien, a former CEO of Hanover Insurance, in a subsequent paragraph is something that we need to pay heed to, along with another statement by Frydman, Wilson, & Wyer.

Bill O’Brien states: “Today I’m afraid that we’re not producing great leaders in our graduate schools. We may even be producing great plunders—people who know how to siphon off wealth others have created.”

The later statement by Frydman, Wilson, & Wyer is where after stating agreement that a customary management education will not produce leaders they state: “Rather, these leaders need to be forged by life experience.”

I think that Bill O’Brien’s statement illustrates how important it is that Information Renaissance Leaders understand and practice ethics and integrity. And in reading the CICS shared values document these are found in the CICS goals.

As for Frydman, Wilson, & Wyer’s statement, I would agree that customary management education does not produce leaders and that leaders do need to be forged by life experience. However, I will go on to say this. The reason customary management education does not produce leaders is because it is designed to produce managers. Thus, people from these programs do not have a foundation to build upon as they start to learn to be leaders. This is where CICS is different, and should not be described as customary, since not only is leadership a shared CICS value, leadership skills are taught in CICS. Thus, while CICS may not produce “instant Information Renaissance Leaders” I would argue that “Information Renaissance Leaders-In-Training” are being produced because they are leaving the CICS program with foundational leadership skills with which they can then hone and sharpen through life experience.

In business today I see an increasing emphasis on defining “business processes” as a knowledge capture method. While these business processes deal with how information is handled and used what I find is, and have even heard stated, the intent is to minimize the “human element” so things get done “right”. However, I think there is a fundamental flaw in this approach. I believe Brown & Duguid say it well when they note “focusing on processes draws attention away from people”. Also, when I think of Dr. Jay Gillette’s quote “Information is Knowledge in Motion” I want to add “only when it is moving through people”. As Information Renaissance leaders I believe we need to understand this and work to make our information processes embrace the “human element” by making them “people-focused” and “knowledge-focused”. Brown & Duguid indicate that by doing this the attention is turned away from the process and instead the focus becomes on the “knowers”; i.e., the people with knowledge. Also, as the business environment becomes more complex, both because of the increasing amount of information available and due to the quick and discontinuous changes that can occur in the business world, people are who adapt and not the process. If the process adapts this is because people gained the knowledge to know the process needed to be changed. This is because a business process is designed based on “know that” which is different from “know how” as Brown & Duguid point out. “Know how” is people practicing what they know and this is why focusing on just the process leads to potential problems in today’s dynamic business environment. Being able to recognize this and bring the focus to the “knowers” in the process is one of the challenges we have as Information Renaissance leaders of the 21st century.

2. I had the pleasure to work with many well-educated people and found that many are pursing graduate education locally just like over here in the US. The programs are through both local univerities and well known US, UK, Canadian, and other overseas universities. In fact, in the China Daily newspaper one of the Chinese universities founded by a successful Chinese businessman was well on track to realize the goal it had set of being one of the top ten business schools IN THE WORLD. From everything I saw I would say they are very serious about higher education.

3. Everywhere I went to visit suppliers the factory and offices were gated and guarded. So I had to ask myself, how to you play the game over here? I think the answer is simple, you have to know someone that knows how to play and can get you an invite in.

4. No tipping. I have to say that this took a while to get used to but the fact is that no tips are expected, just pay what you owe for the service rendered.

5. When you visit companies over there as a customer or potential customer they are your host for lunch or dinner. As the customer, the senior member of the party, which was me, is the honored guest and you find that you are expected to sit at the place indicated for the "honored" guest. I understand from talking about this with my local colleagues that this is not as important as it once was but that it is very good to show respect by abiding by the cultural rules.

6. I was surprised at the degree of Westernization of both the downtown areas of the cities and of the young people. There were several times when I was walking downtown in Suzhou the young teenagers seemed to be acting no different than my own, especially since they seemed to be dressed the same and supporting the same hair styles. Also, the teen clothing shops were blaring out American and British rock songs just like in the US.

7. The people everywhere I went were very friendly and courteous. I also think that I would have been able to at least function most places I went around China since a number of people seem to be able to at least be able to speak and understand some English. However, I do not think that the same can be said for the US, I am sad to say.

8. I was surprised to find that many people used English or English sounding first names. I inquired about this and was told that it is entirely up to the individual. Their legal name remains Chinese but whenever the person decides he or she wants to go by an English name they are free to do so and the choice of the name and spelling are up to them. I have to say that I encounterd a variety of names and spelling, some traditional and many others very inventive. I thought it was interesting how often the sound of the name seemed to relflect the personality of the individual.

9. Like the Japenses everyone in the factory wore a uniform of some kind. Sometimes the workers would wear jumpsuits, at other times company shirts and matching pants. Usually the managers or office people would wear smocks or jackets.

10. I found the restroom signs interesting. The signs I saw for the men's room were "Men's", Man's", "Male", "Gentleman", "a man's head in silhouette smoking a pipe", and "a pipe outline". For the women's restroom the signs were: "Women", "Lady's", "an outline of a high heeled slipper", "Female". The restrooms are not called that but they are toilets. I also have to say that many more women in China wear high heels than I see in the US so I think the use of the "high heel picture" on the women's restroom tells an interesting cultural story.

11. I found many people to be interested in Taiwan and especially what I thought about the Mainland China-Taiwan issue. I was honest about my answer which was "I think they will get together someday in the future because it makes good economic sense". However, if you are going to visit I would recommend knowing your answer because everyone was interested in this topic and it was discussed often.

12. One small observation I made was that the doors and chairs were smaller than the average sizes over here. Another observation I made was that the pen tips they use are finer than what is typical seen in the US. I wondered about this until I realized one day as I watched a colleague take notes in Chinese that to make the Chinese characters you need a pen that allows you to make marks in fine detail.

13. It is expensive to drive over there. Depending on which city you live in the license plates can be expensive and you also have restrictions on when and where you can drive. In Shanghai your regular plate only allows you to be able to drive on certain days at certain times. If you want more flexible license plate where you can drive anytime you have to pay a lot more. To put this in perspective, one plant manager said that his "drive anytime" car plates cost $7,000 and that is every year.

14. Prices are increasing in the Shanghai area at around 10% per year and there is concern that some companies may pull out of China and go to lower labor cost contries like Vietnam.

15. Real estate is very expensive. I know one person I talked to said that the going price for a 100 m^2 (1076 ft^2)apartment in Shanghai was $140,000 and going up every day.

16. In addition to Taiwan, many people were interested in how they compared to India. From the discussions I had with colleagues who had been to Indai they said that China was doing a much better job of building infrasturcture and making a business friendly environment.

17. Take lots and lots of business cards. The proper way to give your business card is to orient it so that it can be read by the person opposite you, holding it with both hands between your forefinger and thumb you then bow slightly and offer your card which they will take in a similar manner and bow. You then repeat the process when they offer you their card.

18. One thing that surprised me at the airport was that they would not exchange a $50 because it had a very small tear in it. I would recommend if you go to China that you make it a point to get new bills to avoid this.

19. I found everyone one I worked with over there to have a can do tyoe of attitude and to be very proud of the way that China is growing and progressing. They are very proud of their country. Also, many people I met were concerned about working conditions and want to see them improve in the future. Everyone was very proud of China hosting the Olympics, in fact one of the projects I assisted with they had decided to name it Project Olympic.

20. In China in the Chinese companies the manager seems to hold the purse strings and so if he decides something needs to be done he can just go ahead and make it happen. Not the roadblocks to improvement we seem to have over here in the US.

21. I found it interesting that the plant in Suzhou had outings and did things lke pagents and parties very similar to the old social gatherings I remember that took place way back when I started my career. No longer done since our group is scattered in three states.

22. I found that I was working more in China that I was here at home. I would sppend all day visiting suppliers and then after a quick dinner I was in my room either answering emails or on conference calls since it was daytime in the US.

23. No seat belt laws and often times in taxis no seat belts. Never did feel comfortable about that, especially when you see the controlled chaos as your driver moves in and out of traffic. They make very iberaluse of the the car horn as well, both as a signal and a communication of .....let's say disdain.

24. I found the Korean companies I visited to be very similar to what was described in the one CI book. I also found one Korean company;s motto interesting and reflective of the Eastern philosophy. It was something like "We want everyone to be happy"

I am sure I have missed some things but overall I found it to be a very enlightening trip and look forward to being able to go back there again.

As Information Renaissance Leaders for the 21st century I believe that we need to understand and appreciate not only this concept but also other non-linear changes that can lead to disruption. Just remember that if you recognize a coming disruption in your industry, or even better if you are the one causing it, you have a competitive advantage to exploit.

Now the exponential change is also not hard to understand and it can also be shown by a simple graph as illustrated below. The key difference in this graph is that the rate of change increases with time. As a leader this is a kind of change you need to pay attention to and gage or benchmark what you are doing against others so you know where you and your competitors are on the graph. However, notice that even though the change is becoming greater with time (and potentially more disruptive) it is still for the most part predictable so you can still plan for it. The key thing though is you have to recognize that the rate of change shortens your planning horizon, i.e., if you take too long to plan or make a decision, the rate of change may cause you to be behind the game. So as Tom Peters notes, you have to learn to love change.

In looking at both of the above graphs one thing that stands out is that they are continuous curves. Being continuous is a nice property since it makes things predictable. But what about curves that are discontinuous like the one shown below? What do they mean and why should we, as leaders, be concerned about them?

The important feature of this graph is that at some point in time the line stops and suddenly experiences a large jump all at once. Why is this important to us as leaders? I would suggest that a change like this is very disruptive because it can represent a drastic change in an industry. For example, this would have been representative of the effect of the change in transportation technology that took place back in the 1840’s and 1850’s when canals were essentially put out of business by the invention of the steam locomotive. This would also be illustrative of what futurist Joel Barker (http://www.joelbarker.com/) refers to as a paradigm shift. As an Information Renaissance leader this is the type of change we have to be on the look out for because it can occur very quickly and almost without notice but can have the effect of a tsunami if you cannot adapt to the change it represents.

So where does competitive intelligence enter into this? Well, for the continuous cases CI can provide information on what the changes are and how fast they are happening so as a leader you can develop a strategic plan to adapt to the change. So for these instances, CI essentially functions to keep you informed. For the discontinuous case CI becomes very important but also more difficult. The reason CI is very important in the discontinuous case is because it can act as the “tsunami” or “tornado” warning system so you can at least have some time to react if you are not the one causing the “wave”. The reason that CI is difficult in this instance is because you never know from what direction the wave will be coming so how do you detect it before it overwhelms you? This means that you have think about creating a paradigm shift of your own relative to doing CI. As information leaders this means that we have to look at not only information in new ways and how we make new knowledge connections with it but we also have to think of new and novel ways and places to look for it. For example, to have an idea of what new disruptive direction computers will take in the future we will need not only to look at conventional semiconductor technology but also areas of molecular biology or organic chemistry and to make things even more complicated we will need to do this all over the world.
So what does this mean for strategic planning? As an information leader it means is that CI becomes an important input to your strategic plan and that you are continually updating the strategic plan based upon your interpretation of the CI information. Also, as an information leader it also means that if you see a paradigm shift (a discontinuity) occur you have the courage and foresight to abandon your existing strategic plan and develop a new one that addresses the effect of the “tsunami-like” change that is happening.

Please follow this link: http://www.financialhack.com/2007/12/04/10145_lessons-of-the-square-watermelon.html

turns was so that one can view the garden from the bridge from a new and different perspectives as you walked across it.

I believe this same concept can be related to leadership. As a leader we walk across the bridge of time and view our garden of vision and like on the 9-turn bridge we need to strive to look and see this garden we have created from a new perspective not only to better appreciate and understand it but to also try to see it in a new way each time.

This continuum concept is consistent with Frydman, Wilson, and Wyer who note that “Leadership is not the same in all situations. When there is a fire in a chemical plant, for example, you don’t want any participative leadership. Instead you want General Patton there saying “Do this. Do that.” Conversely, when you are up against complex problems that are not given to straight forward, known solutions, that requires a very different kind of leadership.” (Frydman et al 2000, p. 196). As a leader I believe I move back and forth along this continuum many times during a day but hopefully most of my time is spent on the right side.
Why do I say that I hope most of my time is spent on the right side? This is because I believe an effective leader for the 21st century needs to be as described in the Tao Te Ching which states “Enlightened leadership is service, not selfishness” (Wren 1995, p. 69). I also say this because I feel strongly it is important to practice “interactive leadership” where the leader actively works to make the leader-follower interactions positive for everyone one involved as is described in “The Way Women Lead” essay in Wren’s book (Wren 1995, p. 150). Finally, I say this because as a leader I have a responsibility to be both a learner and a teacher so I can help others grow since, as Frydman, Wilson, and Wyer state so well, “All of us are potentially leaders at any time; likewise, all of us are potentially followers at any time as well” (Frydman et all 2000, p. 196).
In addition to this leadership continuum I also see leadership as being coupled with a management continuum as described by Dr. Steve Seteroff and as illustrated by the following diagram from his book, Beyond Leadership to Followership. (Seteroff 2003, pp. 16-18).

This diagram shows that as a leader I move back and forth not only on the leadership continuum but also back and forth on the management continuum as well which is required in this complex world we live in. Support for this is also demonstrated by the quote by my colleague Amanda Haskett who states “Despite the differences between management and leadership, both roles are equally important in the real world and the business world. A good leader or manager analyzes the situation or problem at hand and then finds the appropriate balance between leading and managing.” (Haskett, April 1, 2008) This diagram also shows an important function of a leader and that is creating a vision. This is also thought to be important by my colleague Joshua Cox who states that “Creating ideas and vision are must have characteristics of a leader” (Cox, April 1, 2008). I see creating ideas and vision as making connections which I feel to be an important aspect of a leaders role in KM.

My Leadership Role in KM and CI
To me a leader has a very important role in Knowledge Management (KM). Jay Gillette in his papers (Gillette 2000 & 2006) describes the practice of information networking as being how we move and use information and illustrates this in the form of a table as shown below.

However, in evaluating the original table while I felt that it definitely described how information networking occurred I did not see how the leader fit into this networking until I realized that a key step was not being included and this is represented by the row added to the table in bold capital italics.
I believe that in developing vision and in making the “quantum leap” type of adaptations a leader must make making new connections with information is a keystone step. The substeps describe how this is done. First, the leader recognizes a new type of connection or pattern exists within the information. Second, the leader then defines what this connection is. Third, the leader then verifies that this newly defined connection is stable and can be used for future actions. Finally, the leader captures this new connection so that it can be used in the future, preferably for competitive advantage. I have to say that I feel this connecting step is something that could be easily overlooked since with existing information that we have already “connected” we quickly pass through this step without any thought and probably do not even realize that we have done this.
Thus, for me being a leader in knowledge management means that I must be looking to make these “connections”.
This extends over to competitive intelligence (CI) as well which in my opinion is just a specialized branch of KM. I believe that the text that Blenkhorn and Fleisher edited supports this when it is written: “Now , more than ever, competitive advantage in global markets is intelligence driven. Competitive intelligence that targets foreign-based companies, whether state or privately owned businesses, joint ventures, or foreign subsidiaries, requires a through understanding of the local country’s unique business culture and environment.” (Blenkhorn & Fleisher 2005, p. 5)
I also believe that the book Prescott and Miller edited also indicates this by this quote: “Differentiate report generation from actionable intelligence.” (Prescott & Miller 2001, p. 32).

Conclusion
By recognizing that there is a need for a new approach to leadership for the 21st century I hope the sharing of my theory of leadership, which emphasizes enlightened leadership, and what I see as my leadership role and function in knowledge management and competitive intelligence will provide insight to the reader as to what I feel this new leadership approach should be. May we grow as leaders and followers together in this new millennium.

References

Blenkhorn, D.L. & Fleisher, C.S (eds.) (2005). Competitive Intelligence and Global Business. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

Cox, J. (April 1, 2008). Leadership 2 [On-line]. Available: http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/jlcox2/2008/02/leadership_part_2.html#more

Frydman, B., Wilson, I., & Wyer, J. (2000). The Power of Collaborative Leadership. Woburn, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Gillette, J.E. (2000). “Information is Knowledge in Motion”: A Practical Framework for Understanding Knowledge Management. Unpublished manuscript.

Gillette, J.E. (2006). Leadership for the Information Renaissance: Clarity, Challenges, Opportunity. Unpublished manuscript, Ball State University.

Haskett, A. (April 1, 2008). Focusing on Leadership: Utilizing Historic Perceptions to Create a Definition of Leadership [On-line]. Available: http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/amhaskett/2008/01/focusing_on_leadership_utilizi.html

Prescott, J.E. & Miller, S.H. (eds.) (2001). Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence. New York: Wiley. (pp. 26, 32)

Senge, P.M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday.

Seteroff, S.S. (2003). Beyond Leadership to Followership. Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing.

Wren, J.T. (1995). The Leader’s Companion. New York: The Free Press.

Selflessness
In this instance the portion of this Tao Te Ching excerpt I focus on is where Lao-tzu writes, “Enlightened leadership is service, not selfishness. The leader grows more and lasts longer by placing the well-being of all above the well-being of self alone.” (Wren, 1995, p. 69)
Compare this with how John Barbuto describes the “Calling” characteristic of servant leadership. He writes, “Servant leaders have a desire to make a difference for other people and will pursue opportunities to impact others’ lives─ never for their own gain. A servant leader is willing to sacrifice self-interests for the sake of others.” (Barbuto, Oct., 2007)
Now consider that Chrislip and Larson write about how collaborative learning shares ideas with servant leadership by noting that “Collaborative leaders are servants of the group, helping stakeholders do their work.” (Chrislip and Larson, 1994, pp. 142-143)
When you compare these statements with the Tao Te Ching excerpt I feel that this clearly shows that Lao-tzu’s concept of enlightened leadership being service and not selfishness as having a clear connection with both collaborative and servant leadership. Again, I find it fascinating that this modern day concept of the servant leader is not really all that modern since it is similarly espoused in the Tao Te Ching.

Water
A part of this excerpt from the Tao Te Ching says: “Consider the leader: the leader works in any setting without complaint, with any person or issue that comes on the floor; the leader acts so that all will benefit and serves well regardless of the rate of pay; the leader speaks simply and honestly and intervenes in order to shed light and create harmony,” (Wren, 1995, p. 70).
In their book, Chrislip and Larson note that “Collaborative leaders bring people to the table, help them work together constructively, and keep them at the table,” and “The distinguishing feature is that these [collaborative] leaders initiate a process that brings people together when nothing else is working.” (Chrislip and Larson, 1994, p. 139). Examining the www.collaborativeleadership.org website one finds six key principles of collaborative leadership given. For this instance the third principle “Developing trust and creating safety: Creating safe places for developing shared purpose and action.” appears to be appropriate (http://www.collaborativeleadership.org/pages/faq.html, retrieved Jan. 23, 2008).
Now for servant leadership Barbuto has the following in his article. Under Persuasion, he writes “Servant leaders seek to convince others to do things rather than relying on formal authority.“ Looking at Community he says “A servant leader instills a sense of community spirit in the organization.” (Barbuto, Oct., 2007).
When I read this particular excerpt from the Tao Te Ching this key phrase stood out: “intervenes in order to shed light and create harmony”. Looking at key phrases from collaborative leadership I found “help them [people] work together constructively,” “brings people together,” and “developing shared purpose and action”. For servant leadership I see “seek to convince others to do things rather than relying on formal authority” and “instills a sense of community spirit” as key ones. In comparing these phrases I see correspondence between all of them and would say this again demonstrates a clear connection between the leadership philosophy in the Tao Te Ching and that of collaborative and servant leadership.

Unbiased Leadership
For this excerpt of the Tao Te Ching I am lead to these four sentences: “Learn to lead in a nourishing manner,” “Learn to lead without being possessive, ”Learn to be helpful without taking the credit,” and “Learn to lead without coercion.” (Wren, 1995, p. 70).
In their book on collaborative leadership Frydman, Wilson, and Wyer write “The role of the leader is to give people freedom, and enable them to think, contribute, and participate.” (Frydman, Wilson, and Wyer, 2000, p.199).
Chrislip and Larson note that for a collaborative leader “ownership of the process is shared” (Chrislip and Larson, 1994, p.139).
Relative to servant leadership Barbuto in his article writes under his Growth section that “Servant leaders have a strong commitment to the growth of people.” Also, recall that under Persuasion, he writes “Servant leaders seek to convince others to do things rather than relying on formal authority.” (Barbuto, Oct., 2007)
I think it is clear that the Frydman, Wilson, and Wyer excerpt relates to all the Tao Te Ching sentences while the Chrislip and Larson excerpt relates to ”Learn to be helpful without taking the credit.” As for the Barbuto examples, I feel they correspond to “Learn to lead in a nourishing manner” and “Learn to lead without coercion”, respectively. Thus, this shows again that Tao Te Ching leadership concepts are similar in kind to those of collaborative and servant leadership.

Being a Midwife
In this part of the Tao Te Ching I am lead to this statement: “Facilitate what is happening rather than what you think ought to be happening.” (Wren, 1995, p. 71).
Chrislip and Larson write “Collaborative leaders help groups create visions and solve problems.”(Chrislip and Larson, 1994, p.139).
Barbuto notes in his article that “They [servant leaders] are receptive and genuinely interested in the views and inputs of others.” and that “They [servant leaders] encourage others to dream great dreams” (Barbuto, Oct., 2007).
Again, I feel that comparing each of these excerpts to the Tao Te Ching excerpt again clearly shows that the leadership philosophy of Lao-tzu and that of collaborative and servant leadership are connected.

Conclusion
I believe that the comparisons made between the different excerpts from the Tao Te Ching and those taken from writings on collaborative and servant leadership show that Lao-tzu’s leadership philosophy is similar to that of collaborative and servant leadership.
References
John E. Barbuto, Jr., “Becoming a Servant Leader: Do you have what it takes,” NebGuide, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extention, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, issue G1481, October, 2007, retrieved Jan. 27, 2008 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1481/build/g1481.pdf

David D. Chrislip, Carl E. Larson, Collaborative Leadership, , Jossey- Bass, Inc., 989 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94103-1741, 1994.

Bert Frydman, Iva Wilson, JoAnne Wyer, The Power of Collaborative Leadership: Lessons for the Learning Organization, Butterworth-Heinemann, 225 Wildwood Ave., Woburn, MA 01801-2041, 2000.

J. Thomas Wren ed., The Leader’s Companion, Free Press, Simon & Schuster, NY, 1995.
http://www.collaborativeleadership.org/pages/faq.html, retrieved Jan. 23, 2008.

The proceedings look the Information Revolution as having three dimensions: Political/Governmental, Business/Financial, and Social/Cultural.
The Political/Governmental dimension is seen as changing for two reasons relate to the information revolution. First, the traditional mechanisms of government like taxation, regulation, licensing, etc. are becoming increasingly problematic since information technology is allowing action beyond the reach of national governments to occur. Second, the distribution of power is shifting as new non-state actors are becoming empowered through the information revolution in business, social, and political realms at all levels, the sub-national, the trans-national, and even the supra-national. The question to be answered is: “How will the different governments around the world choose to deal with these issues and how will it affect the information revolution?”
The Business/Financial dimension is seen as being strongly impacted by the rise of e-commerce and by new business models driven by the information revolution. E-commerce is seen as having an effect because it is growing so rapidly and also because it is not only affecting business but also because it is affecting how governments do business and because these changes affect people both in good (e.g., greater access, lower costs) and bad ways (e.g., social exclusion). Relative to the new business models they appear characterized by the centrality or focus on the customer; real-time, real-world, and non-linear information driven business processes; a customer service orientation to developing everything, especially closely integrating business and technology; recognizing the global nature of business today; and finally, a willingness to redefine basic business functions beyond conventional paradigms. How this will happen is seen as varying from nation to nation.
The Social/Cultural dimension discussion fell into two camps. Some felt that for developing countries that the globalization of information could exacerbate societal differences and destabilize some governments. Others felt, and this was the more widely held view, that social and political turmoil would not really occur and if so only in a very few places.
The vision of the future of the Information Revolution was described as “The Great Information Revolution Attractor”. This is an analogy based on the “Great Attractor” description of the region 200 million light years away towards which all the galaxies near the Milky Way are being drawn towards. The attendees felt that this was apt description since the future of the Information Revolution is characterized by a number of interrelated features. These are: A rise in information work and information workers; new business models for both the internal and external functioning of the enterprise; a rise in e-commerce; challenges to the power and authority of governments; the creation of sub-national, trans-national, and supra-national groups, communities, organizations, and enterprises; an increasing porosity of borders (remember this was pre 9-11); and many new winners and many new losers; and finally, new fault lines between and within nations driven by information and cyber-privilege.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/news/110480/web-20-sites-failing-to-impress-users-study-says.html
This site says that Web 2.0 is failing to impress users based on a study/report from Hitwise that shows only a small fraction of people going to Web 2.0 sites take advantage of and use the information sharing or user-generated content features.

http://www.newfangled.com/delicious_as_web_2_benchmark
The article on this site uses delicious as an example of a Web 2.0 application whose features are representative of a number of Web 2.0 applications. The benchmarking here appears to be a comparison between browsers and Web 2.0 features. First, a browser’s favorites menu uses a hierarchical structure to assign sites to; whereas, delicious allows for users to assign personal tags to bookmarks. Second, delicious does something browsers do not it allows collaborative tagging such that a user can see how popular that bookmark is with other users. Third, delicious uses the tagging and collaborative tags to generate “tag clouds” and uses these to do ranking and categorization instead of the editorial or math based determinations used in browser applications.

http://www.bivingsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/2007-magazine-study.pdf
This is a report on that indicates that magazine websites are behind newspaper websites in adopting and implementing Web 2.0 type content. There are a number of statistics comparing things like tagging and RSS feed usage.

http://www.nemertes.com/press_releases/enterprises_moving_toward_web_2_0
This site reports that a study by Nemertes Research indicates that enterprises are increasingly adopting Web 2.0 applications such as RSS feeds, blogs, and wikis.