Timms on “new power”
PERRY BEEMAN Sep 20, 2018 | 2:42 pm
2 min read time
559 wordsArts and Culture, Business Record Insider, The Insider NotebookHenry Timms visits Greater Des Moines for the first time Friday to tell us about the important force behind the likes of “GivingTuesday, which he founded, and the likes of Uber and Airbnb.
He is the co-author, with Jeremy Heimans, of “New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World — and How to Make It Work For You,” a book that Financial Times shortlisted for its top business book of the year award. The volume grew out of a viral Harvard Business Journal article the co-authors wrote, noting that the information age has changed all kinds of organizations and it would be best if we harnessed the power so we don’t get left behind.
In an interview with the Business Record, Timms said the book fleshes out the idea and gives specific ideas on how to use “new power” at everything from nonprofits to companies, churches, newspapers and Facebook. He will explain more at a session beginning at 7:30 a.m. Friday at the Ron Pearson Center, 5820 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines.
“The idea is to understand new power,” Timms said. “We think about technology changing, but we don’t think about power shifting.
“People who are succeeding — whether that is President Trump or ‘MeToo’ or Uber or Facebook — what they are doing well is they are working out how to mobilize people. There is a new set of skills that community leaders and politicians and others need to learn on how they engage the audience.”
He is the co-author, with Jeremy Heimans, of “New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World — and How to Make It Work For You,” a book that Financial Times shortlisted for its top business book of the year award. The volume grew out of a viral Harvard Business Journal article the co-authors wrote, noting that the information age has changed all kinds of organizations and it would be best if we harnessed the power so we don’t get left behind.
In an interview with the Business Record, Timms said the book fleshes out the idea and gives specific ideas on how to use “new power” at everything from nonprofits to companies, churches, newspapers and Facebook. He will explain more at a session beginning at 7:30 a.m. Friday at the Ron Pearson Center, 5820 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines.
“The idea is to understand new power,” Timms said. “We think about technology changing, but we don’t think about power shifting.
“People who are succeeding — whether that is President Trump or ‘MeToo’ or Uber or Facebook — what they are doing well is they are working out how to mobilize people. There is a new set of skills that community leaders and politicians and others need to learn on how they engage the audience.”
Public relations has changed in a big way. So has management of organizations, Timms said.
“People are still issuing their press releases and hoping the world will send their message,” Timms said. “But there are new basic skills on how to mobilize a crowd, how to make something go viral. The old model of the superstar CEO who comes in and saves the day doesn’t work. Now, often people channel the agency of others. It’s less command and control.”
Timms’ own creation, #GivingTuesday, a philanthropic answer to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, led to spinoffs such as Giving Blueday.
“There is an appetite for participation,” Timms said. “Someone who grew up 20 years ago, they could write to the local newspaper. They could call in to a radio show. They could go to the library. That was really the limit. Now, look at the ‘never again kids‘ on gun control. Think about their capacity to mobilize people around that issue.”
Female radiologists set up a worldwide network on Twitter, and are reading Timms’ book as part of a related book club.
“We are able to participate and engage and share our ideas, and that creates a very different dynamic.” So some of the biggest protests in history have been in recent months in the United States, he added.
“I give people a lens in how to navigate the world. Some of the most experienced people aren’t engaging in the world,” Timms said. “A lot of organizations that succeeded in the 20th century aren’t moving quickly enough to use these tools and are in danger of being left behind.”
Timms is president and CEO of 92nd Street Y in New York City and is a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils.
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“People are still issuing their press releases and hoping the world will send their message,” Timms said. “But there are new basic skills on how to mobilize a crowd, how to make something go viral. The old model of the superstar CEO who comes in and saves the day doesn’t work. Now, often people channel the agency of others. It’s less command and control.”
Timms’ own creation, #GivingTuesday, a philanthropic answer to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, led to spinoffs such as Giving Blueday.
“There is an appetite for participation,” Timms said. “Someone who grew up 20 years ago, they could write to the local newspaper. They could call in to a radio show. They could go to the library. That was really the limit. Now, look at the ‘never again kids‘ on gun control. Think about their capacity to mobilize people around that issue.”
Female radiologists set up a worldwide network on Twitter, and are reading Timms’ book as part of a related book club.
“We are able to participate and engage and share our ideas, and that creates a very different dynamic.” So some of the biggest protests in history have been in recent months in the United States, he added.
“I give people a lens in how to navigate the world. Some of the most experienced people aren’t engaging in the world,” Timms said. “A lot of organizations that succeeded in the 20th century aren’t moving quickly enough to use these tools and are in danger of being left behind.”
Timms is president and CEO of 92nd Street Y in New York City and is a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils.
Event details
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