The Missing Metric

The Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise is an integral part of the Johnson School at Cornell University. The BoP Network has been established to extend the work to a broader range of participants. Many gathered at Cornell this week.

Raquel, Colin, Ludovic and Dan at the Johnson School
The Genesi-Cornell BoP Team sorting out the power2people challenge...

One of the things we came to understand more fully this week was that there is as much of a desire to provide resources and information to the BoP as there is to collect information and resources from the BoP and redistribute it. It is probably surprising that this is surprising, but it is not as apparently obvious as one might first suspect. Information must be collected for the knowledge pool to grow. Understanding this depends on your perspective and the effort you make to step beyond your embedded assumptions.

This brings us to The Missing Metric. What is that all about?

When you get the metric right it becomes easier to drive the success you seek to establish. Nevertheless, we operate with fragmented metrics all the time. Having the right body temperature provides a partial insight into one's health. EPS and EBITA indicate something about the performance of a company. Cancer does fine at 36.6/98.7. What do quarterly profits tell us about what is really happening inside a company? Without a more in-depth investigation there is something missing in the analysis.

We are going to add a new metric to the equation. Starting off the business planning with second year MBA students is a good place to start, particularly with our Cornell BoP Team - wow! Smart, curious, energetic, and reflective are all words that come to mind (we look forward to our next visit!). As mentioned the other day, "Successful prototyping usually involves 'breaking the rules' - doing things differently while escaping from the mental models that trap our innovation and future. Is it too much risk or are we part of stupid?" Why shouldn't business prototyping incorporate more ways to evaluate potential success?

Here is a good place to start: Debian Social Contract. What we have with an open source software development involvement agreement is the basis for more than a Fair Trade Coffee label equivalent. For the IT industry, we have the glimpse of a metric to measure participation - in both directions. Is the Company using open source software giving as much as it is getting? The free as in beer is the easy part, but what is coming back to the nexus of value being driven by the Social Contract into the business?

Now, there needs to be a balance here. We do not seek to launch the FSF on a new crusade, but doesn't something along these lines make sense? Free Software has allowed inefficiencies and opportunity to remain in the corporate world where they most likely would have not been. The objective is to bend not break.

Applying Geek Logik might be a good idea. Hey, Garth! Want to lend a hand here?! Let's see, if we can apply some of these basic ideas to a complex problem. One way or another we will get the welfare of another factored into this equation. We will keep you posted. If you are interested, drop us a line. We may host a Workshop on the Subject at Cornell in December if there is support and interest for the concept.

R&B