Book Report: "An Army of Davids"

The bloodhound referred to my earlier Real Estate 2.0 post as a "rigorous call to arms". After spending a weekend with my latest book purchase, An Army of Davids, I think the reference makes even more sense to me now. I'm pretty sure there are people reading this blog and it's ilk that are getting tired of hearing the Web 2.0 and Real Estate 2.0 references being thrown around. Why? I think primarily because the definitions are far from clear and probably never will be. The definition changes from one person to the next, usually because they've injected their sales pitch or cheesy mission statements into their definitions. Greg put it a little more harshly when he referred to some of the players as moral midgets. I'm holding out hope the transparency that Web 2.0 affords will make that issue a moot point.

Allow me to give my definition. Web 2.0 = Change. I was trying to use the half full glass analogy in my previous post to represent that the change can be good, one thing is for sure, it can't be stopped. I see Web 2.0 as the graduation from one grade level to the next. The first level taught us what was possible, the next level teaches us how to apply what we've learned.

The last sentence in the Army of Davids is:

"The army of Davids is coming. Let the Goliaths beware."

I haven't highlighted a book as I read it in years. This time I had to. There were just too many instances where the content mirrored what is taking place in the real estate industry. The book's subtitle says it all:

How markets and technology empower ordinary people to beat big media, big government and other goliaths."

Authored by a blogging pioneer, Glenn Reynolyds, this book will do more to help you understand that, given the right motivation, you now have everything you'll ever need to succeed at your disposal.

"It's not just that fewer people can do the same work, it's that they don't need a big company to provide the infrastructure to do the work, in fact, they may be far more efficient without the big company and all the inefficiencies and stumbling blocks that its bureaucracy and techno-structure seem to produce."

I talk a lot about the need for the industry to create new business models to work with the new crop of web empowered consumers. What I've failed to mention is the need for the support structures and bureaucracies such as trade associations and MLS support structures to create new business models as well. There seems to be entirely too much hand wringing and knee jerk reactions to control mechanisms. Trade associations are businesses, and I can sympathize with the plight they are faced with. Their job is to increase membership and support that membership with the best tools of the trade. If I'm right about the overall skill set that it's going to take to succeed in the real estate enterprise of the future, those numbers are going to drop substantially. Recruiting and retention on the part of Brokers will have to adapt to this as well. I see that as a great opportunity for the companies that are changing or creating new business models. They'll just need to realize that they are hiring folks that are truly free agents, girded for their own battle and equipped with same weapons as entire regiments. According to Reynolds the change is "playing out in the worlds of business, media, the arts and even national security." He goes on to say "Whether you agree with that assessment or not, the existence of this empowerment is undeniable and irreversible. Love it or hate it, it's worth close consideration."

This new paradigm of singularity powered by technology and changes in social structures can not be denied, so you'll have to ask yourself if you're prepared to sell to a client that is all too familiar with the concepts. If you're not, you'll be shown to the door and another soldier is going step in with a newly shined battle apple and the weapons necessary to win. Testing Changes To This Post