We-Commerce

Billee Howard argues that business success now comes from connectivity, socializing and sharing, in an economy organized around we rather than me and the needs of the many. The marketing strategist points to Uber and Airbnb as companies that use technology to build platforms resting largely on social media and community feedback. In place of traditional strategy, Howard says firms must earn trust within their communities, work alongside their customers, adopt socially and environmentally responsible models and become artists of business. Her advice ranges from staying small but including all to profiting with purpose and embracing disruption, presented as a toolkit for co-creating and leading in the sharing economy.

Erik Cheong, co-founder of Park N Parcel, pointed readers interested in collaborative, shared-resource startups to it as a way to weigh their ideas against existing peer-to-peer platforms.