THE INTERACTION FIELD

In the age of networks, data-driven technologies and machine learning companies have to think about performance and success in a different way and find a new mindset.

In today's chaotic social and economic environment, companies can no longer sustain themselves with the business approach that has been dominant for more than a centurythat is, the value-chain model. This is the classic asset-driven company, concerned with besting the competition by optimizing its pipeline and targeting customers within well-defined industry or category boundaries. Value-chain companies are driven by a win-lose mindset.

However, over the past decade, a new model has emerged, the platform company, an approach pioneered by the digital leaders: Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google, Apple. These companies facilitate online exchanges between interdependent groups. Rather than trying to shed their pasts, they are leveraging their value-chain assets to go for a new and different approach that has enormous potential: the creation of interaction fields.

An interaction field is a set of communications, engagements, and information exchanges between and among multiple types of participants. A successful interaction field creates a self-perpetuating, virtuous cycle of shared learning, improvement, and growth.

The concept of interaction fields is gaining ground throughout the worldincluding discussions at last year's World Economic Forum and Business Roundtable, to forums at Harvard, Stanford, and MIT. And Erich Joachimsthaler, branding expert and founder and CEO of VIVALDI, one of the largest independent global strategy firms, is at the forefront of this new business model.

Joachimsthaler not only speaks at industry conferences and corporate events around the world, he also counts among his clients some of the biggest names in business, from Samsung, Airbnb, Unilever, and Deutche Bank, to UBS, Nike, American Express, Estee Lauder, and Lego. He takes this expertise and in his forthcoming book The Interaction Field, he shows companies of all types how to create an Interaction Field and how to use it to achieve radical growth.

Most business models are transactional. They are focused on a specific exchange. They match riders with drivers, sellers with buyers, hosts with travelers. They thrive on enormous scale, huge distribution networks, and brand recognition. But then along comes a rival that is small, nimble, and doesn't care much about its brand, and it either rushes past you or mows you down.

In The Interaction Field, branding expert and author Erich Joachimsthaler explains that the only way to survive and thrive in this environment is through the Interaction Field model. An interaction field company is organized to generate, facilitate, and benefit from interactions. It's focused on data exchange among multiple people and groupsfrom customers and shareholders, but also from those you wouldn't expect to be in the mix: suppliers, software developers, regulators and even competitors. And everyone in the field works together to solve big, industry-wide problems.

This new mindset is broader, more inclusive, more focused on problem-solving, shared wealth, and social benefit. The future is going to be about creating value for everyone, and businesses that solve immediate challenges of people today and the major social and economic challenges of the future are the ones that will survive and grow.

Erich Joachimsthaler is the Founder and CEO of VIVALDI, one of the largest independent global strategy firms, with offices in Europe and Asia. He has lectured and held faculty positions at many of the world's leading business schools, including Harvard Business School, INSEAD, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth and Duke. He is the author and co-author of more than a hundred articles published in highly-respected journals as well as of two award-winning books-Brand Leadership and Hidden in Plain Sight. Joachimsthaler has been featured in USA Today, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and on CNBC, among others, and writes regularly for Harvard Business Review. In 2017, he was voted a Top 25 Influencer of Chief Digital Officers, and he was inducted as the 2017 Fellow of the ISBM Institute for his lifetime contribution in academics, thought leadership and practice in B2B marketing, strategy, and digital innovation. He lives in New York, NY.

Erich is a regular speaker at industry conferences and corporate events in both Europe and the U.S. including Forrester Consumer Marketing Conference NYC by Google 2017, TEDxLBS London, Brand Week Istanbul 2016, Swiss Leadership Forum 2016, and ISBM Big Thinker Conference 2017, AMA BrandSmart 2018. He conducts executive-level conferences and workshops around the world in English, German, and Spanish.