Fifth World Organisations in the 21st Century.

An ancient Mayan myth predicts that: "When the Blue Star Kachina makes its appearance in the heavens, the Fifth World will emerge"

I am not a follower of new age mysticism but I find it curious that futurists worldwide predict we are entering a time of transition that will begin to kick in around 2012. Not only in business but humanity as a whole. A time where all the lessons learned from previous ages and experiences come together to create an evolutionary leap in the way we live, communicate and do business.

In his book 'A Vision for 2012' John L. Petersen, a futurist and head of The Arlington Institute suggests there will be a massive societal and planetary disruption in the next decade. To avoid disaster we will need to develop further scientific and technological breakthroughs, from new political, societal and financial models, to increased medical research and innovative education policies. One concern is that governments in general act conservatively and plan and deal in incremental, short term advances until a crisis occurs. This is often about individuals trying to maintain the status quo or even lacking creativity due to a fear of change.

The solution is to introduce a culture of co-creatation and collaboration, with open lines of communication between individuals. However for this to happen, the way we build societies and organisations will have to transform. This of course ultimately and fundamentally begins with the people that live and work in these new societies and organisations.

The twentieth century saw the Internet heralding the dawn of a new age of communication where traditional boundaries began falling away. The global trading of produce and goods across cultures has led to the exchanging of experience and ideas. The open access to the global village made easier by cheap flights and less restrictions has allowed others to see, feel and hear the presence of nations previously hidden from view. This has led to a need for what some are calling '5th World Organisations' – Evolving, energised, inclusive, curious, tolerant, open, creative, generous, challenging, innovative and revolutionary.

Unfortunately more recent world events have reminded us why there might be such a need.

Now more than ever we are being made acutely aware that effective communication and relationship building are fundamental to the success and survival of the peoples of the globe. It is in this climate that the need for energised and evolving organisations is beginning to emerge. Corporate business has an integral role to play in the creation of global unity as capitalism can still benefit all nations when aligned to responsibility. Before this can happen we have to reflect on what has and has not worked before and what we need to develop further.

What is a 5th World Organisation?

Organisations and companies can be thought of in the same way as we think of global cultures for instance -

The world as we know it is made up of 4 different business and social groups:

1st World
We in the West generally describe democracies with thriving economies like the UK, USA, Germany, France and certain other countries in Europe and around the globe as ‘First World’ nations. Here there is capability, functionality and good results are achieved but much of the knowledge, technology, systems and processes could further evolve and develop.


2nd World
For us the ‘Second World’ defines countries or nations that we consider to have newer or slightly less stable democracies and economies than our own. Here the knowledge, technology, systems and processes are out dated and performance is average to poor.

3rd World
The ‘Third World’ is considered to be the poorest nations of the world.
Here there is an absence of knowledge, technology, systems and processes.

4th World
The ‘Fourth World’ could be thought of as small indigenous communities within larger, wealthier nations that are not independent or recognized and are either not developing or are developing very slowly. Tibet may be one example.
Here there used to be good communication, knowledge and technology but currently there are no effective processes or systems in place.

The way organisations develop and grow is largely dictated by the environment in which they exist. This means in our first world we will have organisations that are representative of our dominant culture. We have capability, functionality and good results are achieved but much of the knowledge, technology, systems and processes could further evolve and develop.


We can add to this the idea of a 5th World

This is an energized, intelligent, evolving global culture, an aspiration, an ideal, a possible future, and the best of all possible worlds. It is a momentum, an attitude, a state of mind, a way of thinking and being. In this world there is a continuous evolution of people, knowledge, technology and processes, increasing communication and maintaining alignment and synergy within and between systems. Organisations evolving in this world climate would need to be highly energised.

People who live and work in the 5th World would need to develop the skills to be highly intuitive, creative and energetic, and aware of the meaning of responsibility and the right use of power. They would have highly developed communication skills and be able to empathise with and relate to others. They would not have the limiting beliefs and attitudes that keep many of us from reaching our full potential.

Why the need for 5th World Organisations?

The demand for a new model is increasing as the global economy continues to bring more and more competition. The need to be creative, adaptive and flexible together with an ability to communicate and form strong relationships is vital to business success. There are currently several important trends emerging within the global business community.
They include:

• Redefining products as services
• Reliance on partnerships, collaborations, and strategic alliances.
• A shift from 'hard sell' tactics to relationships and needs fulfillment
• Defining company visions and creating internal alignment.
• New focus on serving both external and internal customers.
• An increase in the desire of employees for autonomy, job flexibility, and self-directing teams.
• Re-defining the meaning of the term profit into to mutual benefit.

Business is fundamentally a series of agreements and commitments made in the context of relationships not only between individuals but also involving teams, organizations, networks and alliances.

When we view the structure and form of a business transaction from start to finish we ‘see, hear and feel’ one to one interactions develop into ever widening spheres of people focused relationships as individuals and teams are galvanized into action to complete a transaction. This makes apparent what we've always known-people buy into people first, therefore people must always be considered first.

Viewed in this light we may start to experience business as a community made up of relationships, with the potential for personal and collective development. Working in 'business' can then be transformed (re-framed) from a 9 to 5, 24-7 grind of mere transactions into a daily exercise in relationship building, personal development and conscious evolution.

In order to stay with and ahead of the game organizations and their people will need to be creative, progressive, independent, adaptive, flexible and able to communicate and facilitate the sharing of information. This means personal and professional development and evolution.

Welcome to the 5th World