99% of Americans don’t have a game that they can win playing by the rules imposed on them by the other 1%. But in order to keep this game in play, that 1% utterly depends on the remaining 89% who still have jobs to show up for work and do as they are told. The spectre of the 9% fallen is an incentive, of sorts, to those still walking.
These are the 89 percenters…
…who already occupy Wall Street with their knowledge of systems and processes to implement procedures and methods that support the connections and networks of the remaining 1%. Without these people in place, the system will fail faster than S&P can calculate a credit score, literally.
The 89% know what each other know
The logistics manager knows whom to call when the packages are late. The account manager knows all of the customers by name. The service team knows exactly how to get the computer systems back online. The loan officer knows where the money is. But only the 1% know where the knowledge is…and where it isn’t…
Knowledge is money
As RIM recently learned, if the computers go down, all the money in the world will not bring them back. Most companies have an off-line life span of only a few days or hours before irreparable damage occurs. Only the right knowledge in the right place at the right time can save the firm. This is a huge monetary vulnerability.
The Public Knowledge Inventory
I found a great picture of the Occupy Wall Street Library from here. The great irony is that OWS felt the need to build a Library that represents the ideas that they have between their ears. What they really need is a “Library” for the knowledge that actually lives, breaths, and acts in the minds of the 99%. Only then can they deploy the force that they need to move enterprises.
Divide and conquer
As long as Americans are fighting with each other, there is little chance that they will organize their knowledge assets and deploy their knowledge assets in a manner that serves social priorities instead of Wall Street priorities. This is the big shift that the World is waiting for. As long as people fear losing their jobs, they will comply with the 1%
What scares them the most?
The greatest fear of any company is to have their key employees poached by a competitor. Companies have gone out of their way to implement non-poaching agreements between known competitors and NDAs against unknown competitors. Companies hide key players behind a mountain of bureaucracy, misinformation, and obscure titles and job descriptions in order to hide them from the open market; yet they willingly poach other firms when they can.
The cry of the 99% is income equality.
Let me suggest that OWS consider knowledge equality as a superior alternative. So instead of the OWS book library, they should form a public knowledge Library. A public knowledge inventory would make knowledge transparent to all people and all companies equally.
Then Let the Poaching begin
If the 89% were not scared heartless about getting another job, then they would be far more willing to join the movement. In fact, the MVPs would be the most powerful voice of the movement – the top innovators and visionaries toiling their life away for a company willing to raid their pension fund or drop insurance coverage at the drop of a hat. Nobody is going to tell them to take a bath – they are the water.
