Asian Energy Advisors

I’m trying to create substantial economic value for myself - no question about it.

I’ve spoken often here about my philosophical approach to consulting in the Philippine power sector. And I’m finding that it’s probably going to take me about two years to build those concepts into a profitable business. I’m laying some foundations already. Re-reading John Hegel & John Seely Brown is helping continue putting even more action to those words in creating a business.

In a working paper they published in 2005 entitled From Push to Pull - Emerging Models for Mobilizing Resources they talk about a “pull model” in contrast to a “push model.” I dislike the terms, but the concepts are crucial.

Instead of dealing with uncertainty through tighter control, pull models do the opposite. They seek to expand the opportunity for creativity by local participants dealing with immediate needs.

To exploit the opportunities created by uncertainty, pull models help people to come together and innovate in response to unanticipated events, drawing upon a growing array of highly specialized and distributed resources. Rather than seeking to constrain the resources available to people, pull models strive to continually expand the choices available while at the same time helping people to find the resources that are most relevant to them. Rather than seeking to dictate the actions that people must take, pull models seek to provide people on the periphery with the tools and resources (including connections to other people) required to take initiative and creatively address opportunities as they arise.

Push models treat people as passive consumers (even when they are producers like workers on an assembly line) whose needs can be anticipated and shaped by centralized decision-makers. Pull models treat people as networked creators (even when they are customers purchasing goods and services) who are uniquely positioned to transform uncertainty from a problem into an opportunity.

Pull models are ultimately designed to accelerate capability building by participants, helping them to learn as well as innovate, by pursuing trajectories of learning that are tailored to their specific needs.

Robert Paterson, here, points to another discussion that embodies an important concept for my business model:

If we accept that we do not have all the answers then we acknowledge that each one of us has a crucial piece of the answer, and what is important is the aggregation and emergence of the pieces of truth each one of us carries.

So. That’s the objective. But what does a pull model look like in the context of Philippine power consulting? We have to build it. I’m approaching it with new technology and communications tools. But ultimately it’s relationship-based. It’s social. It’s the way we interact with each other.

I’m building a business that will scale rapidly - internet technologies I use are meant to enable that. I’m putting information into your hands - you use it when and how and to the extent you find useful to you.

Some baby steps:

I’m using Basecamp to support individual client projects. It puts all the project information into your hands. Accessible whenever you want it - files, correspondence, references, schedules. You build it up as much as I do.

I’m using FreshBooks for billing. All my time and billing and your payments information - current and history - is there whenever you want to get to it. Need to question an invoice? Get another copy? - do it right there. You don’t go through layers of departments - or even have to track me down.

I’m using public wikis, blogs, discussion groups, public databases. I Flickr. I Twitter. I keep up with professional issues through podcasts. I bookmark and tag.

But the real meat of the business hasn’t started yet. We’ll get there.

As Kathy Sierra intimates here, my focus is not on being a really good consulting company. Consulting is not a meritocracy. Nobody cares about my company. What’s good for my clients is good for the practice. The only way for me to be successful is for you to profit from or learn from my involvement in your issue. I’m just the delivery guy, as Kathy says. There’s a quote I recall (but I can’t recall where I heard it): “Don’t hire me for what I know. Hire me for what you don’t know.” We’ll co-create.

On this day..

• Broke-istan - 2008