Book Club Discussion with The Next Step

We have been given the gift of variety. Our group, The Next Step, had a rich variety of books from which to gather great insight for the 21st century: Plow, Plagues, and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate, High Noon: Twenty Global Problems, Twenty Years to Solve Them, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, and Our Molecular Future. After extensive discussion and reflection, as a team, we decided on four emerging themes:
1. Efficient non-hierarchical structure for future organizations
In the 21st Century, there should not be any more top-down management structures. Rather, cooperation and collaboration from all levels of a business are the keys to innovation and efficiency. The greatest ideas can come from the least expected places!

2. Innovations and technology achieved through multifaceted methods
As mentioned, ideas no longer need to come from one place, nor are they generated by one method. For example, in Wikinomics, Boeing used waterproofing technology from a diaper company.
3. Tapping into the resource of collective intelligence and the global brain
4. Open-mindedness and non-conventional thinking
The last two themes are ubiquitous in all our books. Open sourcing allows for organizations to take extensive advantage of all that may be available to them. As well, non-conventional thinking leaves an organization without boundaries for innovation.