[Section 8.0] Who's Making Consulting 2.0/2.0 Happen? Smart People to Run a Smart Company 

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To make 2.0/2.0 Consulting a success, it is critical that the right people be in the right positions, with the right connections to the right organizations.  Simple enough?  Hardly.  As a start, we’d recommend hiring us.  We have a vision for what the company should do, how it should operate, and what the end-goal is.  To better understand the skills we each bring to the table, our respective résumés are linked in below.  

This isn’t to say that we need to be co-CEOs.  On the contrary, we’re not equipped to lead the company – at least with the vision that we have.  We envision that Katrina Gosek would be the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).  Katrina’s deep experience in marketing, combined with a passion for all things social media, positions her well to lead the efforts of the marketing team, surrounded by a top-notch collection of executives (peers), as well as strong, independently-minded but team-oriented senior managers (direct reports).  The role of CIO (Chief Information Officer) would be filled by Alan Belniak.  Alan’s passion for all things digital, his insane attention to detail, and his deep desire for product testing and feedback sharing makes him the right person for the job.  In addition, Alan knows other people that could be recruited from other organizations (not all in the social media/social networking space) to begin to round out a complemented team.

2.0/2.0 Consulting’s CEO will be a premier ambiguity manager.  The CEO will need to see the entire system for what it is, and know which parts are more fluid and fragile than others.  Indeed, as we’ve described, 2.0/2.0 Consulting is more about a tight assembly of technologies and people than about bring a truly novel technology to light.  The CEO, in addition to being able to see the system, will also have to know how to locate and retain top talent, implement the decisions made by the board, and maintain smooth operation of the company.  The COO (Chief Operating Officer) will likely be responsible issues related to production, marketing, and sales personnel.  Since the COO is more involved in the day-to-day operations, this person, too, will need to be a good ambiguity manager, but also a specialist in execution and be task-oriented.  The CFO (Chief Financial Officer) is the watchdog on the company’s financial health.  Since 2.0/2.0 Consulting would initially be angel-funded (and potentially venture funded), a close eye on expenses is necessary.  It is this capacity where a true specialist is needed, and an ambiguity manager isn't necessarily required.  However, creative thinking in this role is certainly welcomed, since start-up companies always need more money.

Katrina and Alan envision four of the nine positions on the board of directors being filled by the following people, should they accept the invitation:

• Christine Li - Christine, along with Josh Bernoff (see below), have recently published Groundswell.  This book summarizes the numerous ways to engage the public into interacting with companies to transform them into marketing machines.  Many of the concepts and tenets described in the book would be employed in 2.0/2.0 Consulting.  Having someone with that vision on the board of directors is necessary.

• Josh Bernoff – similar to Christine Li, Josh is a co-author of Groundswell.  Prior to that, Josh’s background includes stints in technical writing and product development at technology-based companies.  His background would be a welcome addition to the board.

• Don Tapscott – Don is a visionary in the field of the digital age and ‘new’ information technology.  Co-author of “Wikinomics”, Don would bring a wealth of experience to the board to help shape the strategy of the company, determine the first beachhead, and assist in laying out the bowling-pin strategy.

• Marty Anderson – Marty is the ultimate ambiguity manager.  From his ability to not only see the system, but see how this system is a component in a larger system, Marty’s macroscopic view of all things technical will help ground the visionaries and help chart a realistic path.  Marty’s extensive real-world experience, too, contribute well to the others mentioned, and the remainder of the skill set by the other positions on the board of directors.

In addition to these four positions, the CEO would occupy one of the board positions.  Katrina or Alan could potentially fill one of the other positions, although having two members of the executive team of 2.0/2.0 Consulting on the board of directors many not be viewed positively.  The remaining four/three positions are yet to be named, but would be done so soon.   In the end, the people we seek in the executive level positions, the remaining board positions, and even the first level of senior management do not necessarily have to possess the strongest technical background.  Indeed, much of the technology can be understood with a few days training.  Deeper dives into technology can be performed by a dedicated IT staff, and they will be hired out as specialists. 

The skill set that we desire for 2.0/2.0 Consulting’s senior management include the ability to be flexible, work under pressure, and relate technology to the task at hand (but not necessarily force a technological solution).  As indicated in Groundswell, technology is the fourth (of four) items to consider (after indentifying the correct people in the groundswell, understanding the objectives on what is to be achieved from tapping the groundswell, the strategy to employ, and finally the technology that will aid that strategy).  Therefore, it is clear that the technology is used as a tool; it isn’t the solution.  2.0/2.0 Consulting will require people to be visionaries in this area; it will require people to be passionate about this idea (and others), and to want to succeed, not just merely check off objectives in an annual review and collect a four-percent-per-year merit increase.  In fact, starting with the CEO, it is our responsibility to appropriately match the incentives and rewards to the individuals.  2.0/2.0 Consulting, on the whole, will operate as a meritocracy – a pay-for-performance (where ‘pay’ is a loose verb, consisting of a traditional pay check, but also other forms of compensation, such as stock options, increased benefits, time off, opportunities to investigate new ventures, etc.).  The core of 2.0/2.0 Consulting is the systematic connection of the right hardware with the right communication mechanisms with the right people understanding and delivering the value.  The critical piece of this is the people component. 

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