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1-Page Summary of New Power

Overview

Our world is changing very fast. Even though we’ve only been living in a digital age for a few years, it feels like a different time because of the rapid pace of change.

Technology is changing the way people interact. It’s also altering how we understand and use power. With new power, more people have access to resources than ever before. They’re able to share ideas with each other and collaborate on projects together.

To succeed in today’s world, you need to know how power functions. You’ll need new tools to influence people and lead them.

New power has been created, and it’s changing the world. Here are some key points to understand this new power. You’ll learn how a woman with epilepsy used her new-power skills to cure herself; why spreading has replaced sticking in today’s society; and why Pope Francis is an excellent example of a new-power leader.

Big Idea #1: Our access to power used to be restricted, but today’s digital connectivity has empowered us all.

In the past, people were viewed as cogs in a machine. They played small roles and their lives didn’t seem to matter much.

This was a time when big companies were powerful and influential. They made decisions for the people who worked within them, believing that they knew what was best. Meanwhile, those people filled static roles and obeyed orders from above.

It’s hard for people to meaningfully participate in the political or economic aspects of society.

Hyperconnected technology has changed the way we behave. For example, it’s made it possible for artists from Ireland and India to collaborate in real time on art projects. It also lets people meet other like-minded people and start movements or organize protests together. And these behaviors have altered our attitudes toward participation. People are no longer satisfied with just observing or agreeing; they demand a right to participate in decision making processes that affect their lives. Letitia Browne-James is an excellent example of this new attitude toward participation. She was frustrated by her neurologist’s ineffective medication for epilepsy until she found PatientsLikeMe, an online community where thousands of patients share information about their own medical experiences and recommendations—and even personal data such as blood tests results and brain scans!

She discovered that brain surgery is an effective treatment for epilepsy by using a platform that connects people who have undergone the same procedure. In fact, 83 percent of those patients reported positive results from it. Her doctor had never discussed this option with her, so she switched doctors and got the surgery done.

After much debate, she ended up having surgery. Five years later, she hasn’t had a seizure. She used PatientsLikeMe to take control of her health care and was able to make an informed decision that worked for her.

Big Idea #2: Old power and new power are based on different value systems.

Old power is based on the values of experience, authority and wisdom. But new power has different values: idealism, questioning received wisdom and changing habits.

Power in the old days is different from power today.

The old and new power models have different ways of governing. The old model prefers formal governance, such as dictating decisions made by the boardroom. However, the new model prefers informal governance that is crowdsourced among employees.

Old power views competition as the ideal way to interact with one another. New power encourages cooperation and collaboration between people, which is a better way of doing things. Old-power systems are more secretive than new-power ones, where transparency is highly valued. Hillary Clinton’s comment about politics being like sausage making was an example of old-power thinking; she said that transparent government isn’t effective because it doesn’t work well in the political sphere.