Party Like Its 1999
I remember first reading John Hagel’s book Net Worth when it came out in 1999. To say I was inspired was an understatement. It’s one of the best books I have read on the topic, or probably more correclty - like a good consultant should - it framed and named existing concepts into an easily digestable form.
Chris Yeh recently commented on the book’s relevance in today’s world. MySpace and its hoardes of ankle biting competitors. Social Search. Social news. They are all revisions on less-feature rich and over-capitalized firms of the late nineties.
I don’t think that Hagel was before his time at all. I just think his concepts were washed out by the noise of greed and information assymetry between entrepreneurs and early investors, and later stage and public investors about the relative worth of community. The latter just got too excited too early.
I actually read Net Worth a year or so ago again and got even more out of the book - so if you rushed through it the first time in 99, maybe it’s time to pick up a copy again?
