It’s in your hands.

“Whether it’s in online gaming, amateur astronomy, open-source software development, apparel manufacturing, or online music remixing—what is it that makes one set of circumstances right for individuals or institutions to flourish while others yield weak or even depreciating results?”

— The Power of Pull

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Access people and resources when you need them

Attract people and resources you didn’t even know existed

Achieve potential with less time and more impact than you imagined possible

What is pull?

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At the most basic level, pull helps us to find and access people and resources when we need them—think of search engines as an example. But in a world characterized by unpredictable change, a second level of pull becomes increasingly valuable: the ability to attract people and resources to you that you were not even aware existed, but once you encounter them, you realize that they in fact are extremely relevant and valuable. Think here of serendipity rather than search and social networks, where we unexpectedly encounter friends of friends or even total strangers that prove to be extremely helpful.

Finally, we need to cultivate a third level of pull—the ability to pull from within ourselves the insight and performance required to more effectively achieve our potential. Of course, to do this effectively, we need to master the first two levels of pull, but we also need to understand how we can use pull to learn faster and translate that learning into rapidly improving performance, not just for ourselves, but for the people we connect with.

Imagine a set of big wave surfers who are working to perfect techniques for addressing increasingly challenging waves. Their experience highlights various levels of pull that help us to more effectively achieve our potential. It also highlights the central role that passion plays in focusing quests and driving participants to the edge to challenge their capabilities and drive learning.

Consider a leading Internet entrepreneur who played a central role in mobilizing technology experts and human rights activists to support Iranian protesters in the aftermath of the most recent election. Or, consider how passionate gamers are using emerging creation spaces to learn faster and, perhaps for the first time, unlock the secrets of driving increasing returns to performance improvement—the more people who participate in these spaces, the more rapidly everyone learns.

Stress into success

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A key theme connects all of these stories. We are moving from a world where value resides in knowledge stocks—what we know at any point in time—to effective participation in knowledge flows—interactions that help us to create new knowledge by working with others.

By making our passions our professions and moving out to the periphery, we can finally achieve our true potential. This is a key lesson for all of us as individuals, but it is an even more important imperative for our institutions, where performance has been deteriorating for decades as competitive pressures increase.

Passion as profession

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A groundbreaking new work that examines the deep forces shaping our world, The Power of Pull speaks to both institutional leaders and individuals in all walks of life who are trying to cope with the growing performance pressures we are all experiencing. It dives below the surface events that compete daily for our attention and highlights the role of digital infrastructures and public policy shifts in transforming how we live, work, and play.

The Power of Pull uses exciting and compelling stories of individuals to illustrate some of the key opportunities created by the profound shifts occurring across the world.

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The Power of Pull provides a key to how all of us —individually and collectively—can turn challenge and stress into opportunity and reward as digital technology remakes our lives.

What are the elements of a successful journey toward pull?

• The right trajectory—the direction in which you’re headed• Sufficient leverage—the ability to mobilize the passions and efforts

of other people• The best pace—the speed at which you progress

How do you get there?

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Hagel III, J., Brown, J.S., & Davison, L. (2010). The Power of Pull. New York, NY: Basic Books. Design by Havilland Studio, Palo Alto, Calif., and Lahaina, Hawaii.

The journey towards pull

Simply put, our institutions are fundamentally broken. They achieved enormous success by harnessing 20th century infrastructures. Only a few institutions are beginning to discover the potential residing in newer infrastructures and technologies like social media. By harnessing new pull practices and developing new institutional arrangements to support these practices, we have an opportunity to turn growing stress into expanding opportunity.

As individuals, we truly now have the potential to remake our world, not in a way that simply serves our needs, but in a way that deeply honors the potential of all of those around us as well as our own potential. To harness the potential of pull, we must begin with ourselves as individuals and join together in the long march required to transform our institutions. On the way, we will discover that small moves, smartly made, can set big things in motion.

Bottom line

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For more informationwww.deloitte.com/powerofpull

To order your copywww.amazon.com or www.800ceoread.com

John HagelJohn Hagel is a noted business strategist who has helped companies around the world improve performance and carve out sustainable edges. John serves as the co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge, which conducts original research into emerging opportunities at the intersection of business and technology.

John Seely BrownJohn Seely Brown is a prominent technologist from Silicon Valley who has been deeply involved in the technology innovation that has shaped our digital world. John serves as the independent co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge.

Lang DavisonLang Davison, as the former editor of one of the leading thought leadership publications in the business world, brings deep insight into how to weave together deep insights into compelling narratives.

Over the years, these authors have written a number of best-selling books, including Net Gain, Net Worth, and The Social Life of Information.

About the authors

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About DeloitteDeloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and its member firms. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Copyright © 2010 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

“ The Power of Pull examines the ‘how question’—how can we effectively address our most pressing challenges in a rapidly changing and increasingly interdependent world? In The Power of Pull, John Hagel, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison highlight fascinating new ways in which passionate thinking, creative solutions, and committed action can—and will—make it possible for us to seize opportunities and remain in step with change.” —Bill Clinton, Former President of the United States

“ The Power of Pull will do for our 21st-century information-age institutional leadership what Peter Drucker’s The Concept of the Corporation did for industrial-era management. This book begins to create a body of learnable principles that will revolutionize our ability to access and work with knowledge flows.” —Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker, United States House of Representatives

“ Connecting many important threads through beautiful metaphors and wonderful narratives, the authors provide both a mind expanding view of how the world is changing and a solid framework and context to approach the future for anyone interested in surviving and enjoying it.” —Joichi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons and Internet venture investor

“ In times of unprecedented change, we as individuals and institutions can have extraordinary leverage and influence if we marshal the passion, knowledge and resources necessary to achieve great things. The Power of Pull empowers and guides us to make the most of today’s enormous possibilities.” —John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends

“ Stop whatever you are doing and read this amazing book. The authors totally nail it. Digging beneath the surface of stuff that distracts us on a daily basis, they unpack the deep forces that really truly matter and provide a guidebook each of us can use to unleash passion, transform how and why we work, and restore destiny and dignity to our lives.” — Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class and

The Great Reset “ The authors have given us a provocative and insightful look at the power of today’s knowledge flow. If you want to meet the challenges of working and living in the 21st century, this book should be your guide.” —Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Google

“ This brilliant and exciting book shows how to pursue your passions by harnessing the power of networks. Success no longer comes from possessing knowledge; instead, you have to participate with others in creating a flow of knowledge. The power of ‘pull’—the ability to draw out people and resources for each endeavor—can transform both individuals and institutions.” — Walter Isaacson, President and CEO, the Aspen Institute,

and author of Einstein: His Life and Universe “ The Power of Pull is a roadmap of how to get from where you are now to where you really want to be. Read it and be inspired. (You’ll probably want to surf too.)” —Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com

Praise for The Power of Pull