The Connection Economy: How Technology Creates a Social Operating System

The ‘Sharing Economy’ has arrived, sites that connect ordinary citizens with other citizens to do business directly, face to face, bypassing brands and corporations. Platforms like AirBnB or Lyft are demonstrating the ways that value can be created by connecting people to one another, while forming an entirely new sector of the economy. Lisa Gansky and Robin Chase are both pioneers of creating value through sharing and collaboration.

As we become more familiar with the idea of the sharing economy, we still tend to think of it in terms of physical assets. However, there also an incredible space for knowledge and information sharing. In On! The Future of Now, Robin and Lisa look at the big picture of the relationship between government, individuals and corporations in the next wave of the collaboration economy. “It’s not just about assets,” Robin explains. “It’s about sharing our expertise, our networks, excess capacity, and how we can tap into it.”

*This post is part of a series highlighting personal stories and key themes from our new book, On! The Future of Now. Order your copy of On! The Future of now here. Proceeds to support Charity: Water.

About Robin Chase

Robin Chase is the founder and CEO of Buzzcar, a service that brings together car owners and drivers in a carsharing marketplace. Formerly founder and CEO of Zipcar, Robin has dedicated her career to minimizing humanity’s negative impact on the environment by opening channels for sharing. Learn more about Robin here.

About Lisa Gansky

Lisa Gansky is an entrepreneur, investor, speaker and author of the bestselling book, The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing and the chief instigator of Mesh Labs. She works in the design of new products, policies, services, partnerships and models in which ‘access’ to goods, services and talent trumps over the ownership of them. Learn more about Lisa here.

About On! The Future of Now
Published in partnership with Nokia and curated by Toby Daniels and Craig Hepburn, On! The Future of Now is a collection of essays and personal stories from leading thinkers, including best-selling author and entrepreneur Seth Godin; Cindy Gallop, founder of Make Love Not Porn; Jonah Peretti, founder and CEO of BuzzFeed and Leah Busque, founder of TaskRabbit. On! The Future of Now is available in eBook and paperback. To buy the book and support Charity: Water, click here.