We live in strange times. A machine plays the strategy game Go better
than any human; upstarts like Apple and Google destroy industry
stalwarts such as Nokia; ideas from the crowd are repeatedly more
innovative than corporate research labs.
MIT's Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson know what it takes to master
this digital-powered shift: we must rethink the integration of minds and
machines, of products and platforms, and of the core and the crowd. In
all three cases, the balance now favors the second element of the pair,
with massive implications for how we run our companies and live our
lives.
In the tradition of agenda-setting classics like Clay Christensen's The
Innovator's Dilemma, McAfee and Brynjolfsson deliver both a penetrating
analysis of a new world and a toolkit for thriving in it. For startups
and established businesses, or for anyone interested in what the future
holds, Machine, Platform, Crowd is essential reading.