Be a driver or a passenger

Douglas Rushkoff's Digital Decalogue
by Richard Pachter

 

Program or be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age. Douglas Rushkoff. OR Books. 140 pages.

Having read and reviewed Rushkoff’s previous books, Think Outside The Box, which was good, and Life Inc., which was nothing less than brilliant, I wondered what was next for the media maven. This new one is short and concise, but a highly worthy successor. His mission is to raise awareness of the human implications of our technologies — the context (if you will) of our actions.

The author’s Decalogue here is a set of rules of conduct. To wit: Do Not Be ‘Always On;’ Live in Person; You May Always Choose ‘None of the Above;’ You Are Never Completely Right; One Size Does Not Fit All; Be Yourself; Do Not Sell Your Friends; Tell the Truth; Share, Don’t Steal; and Program or Be Programmed.” Each of the command(ments) comprise a chapter.

On the surface they seem pretty obvious, but like their Biblical counterparts, they add up to a wise and ethical way to conducts oneself, in this case, mostly within the online and virtual worlds. After all, many of us blithely mouse over, click and agree to website terms we’re asked to give our assent to, with little thought to the implications or the consequences, and whatever rights and responsibilities we may shed as we do. Beyond that, there’s an insidious role reversal, says Rushkoff, whereby the supposed programmer becomes the programmed. Our tools define us, whether we like it or not. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Rushkoff is no Luddite. Far from it. He was and is an early adopter of all things digital, and rhapsodizes nostalgically for those thrilling early days of weak computers, inbred electronic bulletin boards and other relatively quaint and low-tech solutions that marked the dawn of the Internet Age. But as he’s grown with the times, so, too has his very healthy skepticism blossomed. Different technologies are biased in different ways, he declares, based upon the facility of each application to enable and elicit specific behaviors. We need to be aware of this effect and do what’s right for us, not the website owners or software developers.

Minor quibble: I had a little problem with his 10th command, the one employed as the title of this book. I don’t want to do any programming, thank you very much. I certainly don’t mind cooking a meal or (occasionally) fixing a toilet, but if I want to go to the store, I’d prefer to just drive my car, not design and build a car. Apparently, mine was a common concern among readers. In a recent interview with NPR, Rushkoff laughed, saying that one needn’t learn to build that car. The difference he’s seeking is being a driver and not just the passenger. Whew. I can live with that! Slide over. I’ll drive! But seriously, it’s an important distinction that he could have made clearer in this otherwise excellent book.

And Rushkoff is apparently driving, too, as he bypassed big publishers to accelerate the publication of this book, a pretty ballsy move, which he explains here. It’s not an isolated case, either. Seth Godin waved goodbye to his publisher, too.

Get Back in the Box

To succeed, don't let yourself get boxed in
Innovation and most out-of-the-box thinking will fail if the fundamentals are ignored.



By RICHARD PACHTER

Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out. Douglas Rushkoff. Collins. 336 pages.

The new age of marketing books is upon us. It has actually been going on for a while. The author of this latest entry, Douglas Rushkoff, is calling for a business Renaissance, or says that we're already in the midst of one (I'm not sure which). That's easy for him, since he's certainly the embodiment of, well, a Renaissance Man, having covered culture, media and technology as a journalist for NPR, The New York Times, CBS News and other venues, and has been a consultant to various organizations. He's also written graphic novels, the latest, Testament, is a science fictional explication of the Torah, which he refers to as ''a media hack.''

Whatever . . .

In this book, Rushkoff joins people like Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Daniel Pink and the ''Cluetrain Manifesto'' guys who understand that business has changed dramatically, mainly due to increased choice, media fragmentation and the Internet. But, like dinosaurs with a huge bodies and tiny brains, many firms just can't seem to move fast enough, or break their old, bad habits. Worse, they seek quick fixes, fast turnarounds and overnight transformations without making the fundamental changes or commitments required to really improve the ways they interact with their customers and employees. And when the needle fails to move after their half-hearted atmospherics fall flat, they're baffled.

Rushkoff's mission here seems to be to bring companies back down to earth. They should rely on their core competencies, and anticipate and fulfill their customers' needs based on their own knowledge, experience and insights. Innovation is worthless unless it's backed up with what made the business successful in the first place.

Rushkoff provides a pleasant narrative, contrasting companies that get it with those that don't, adding asides and insights on what they're doing right or wrong. He's witty and a bit silly (but with a purpose), as when he asks, ''Who would you rather be? Steve Jobs or Bill Gates?'' to illustrate the differences between Apple and Microsoft, and how it's important and powerful for employees and customers to be engaged and have fun.

And that leads to another point; Rushkoff makes a strong case for employee involvement and empowerment, correctly pointing out that customers, employees and vendors all hold important stakes in the success of a business. This may be painfully obvious to all but the most oblivious, but anyone working in an environment where morale is low knows the effect it has on every interaction.

He is also quite wary of consultants, particularly those who seem to ''understand our business better than we do.'' Executives who feel that way, he says, are in big trouble. If an outsider knows your business better than you do, it may be time to look for another gig.

Rushkoff is a good writer, but there is very little herein that I hadn't read elsewhere. Getting back in the box isn't a bad idea at all, but he clearly values the out-of-the-box stuff as much as the next guru, so the title is a bit of a misnomer. Perhaps a better one would have been "Before You Get Out of the Box," but maybe I ought to stick to my fundamentals, too.

Published 1/9/06 in The Miami Herald.