The late Stephen Jay Gould made his name with the theory of punctuated equilibrium, the idea that evolution happens in sudden leaps, not slowly and gradually. The opposing camp of Darwinists called it ‘evolution by jerks’, with Gould countering ‘evolution by creeps’.
In light of the current explosive evolution of investor relations, we have to ask, are IROs jerks or creeps? Gould believed a species quickly advances to its optimum state and stays that way until it is replaced – think dinosaurs. The trigger for the turnover could be some external cataclysm like a catastrophic meteor strike or… er, Enron.
Thomas Kuhn, in that old undergrad chestnut, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, proposed a similar idea about the evolution of science. Normal science is the dogged filling in of known gaps, but real progress happens in paradigm-busting spurts like, say, an apple falling on your head. Suddenly gaps you didn’t even know about are revealed.
Many a C-grade essay has pondered what would happen to science if everyone accepted Kuhn’s theory and fled the lab to sit beneath apple trees and wait for the all-important eureka moment. No doubt many a befuddled freshman mind has also wondered if punctuated equilibrium was a scientific revolution… or vice versa. Freaky.
Here at Investor Relations magazine, we’re always on the lookout for the next jerk or creep and don’t discriminate against either. It’s always gratifying when one that we’re expecting turns up. For example, for three years we’ve been saying that the Next Big Thing in web IR would be ‘mass personalization’, an oxymoron meaning customized IR web sites. So, after several other Next Big Things have since come and gone, special thanks to BP for finally taking our hint and launching DataDesk, the My Yahoo of IR.
We’re also keen to do our own share of creeping. Let’s look at PowerPoint. Or rather, let’s not. Fact is, you can’t really listen at the same time as you’re looking at a PowerPoint slide. Ironically, many speakers can’t really talk unless they’re looking at a PowerPoint slide.
Thus a new species of conference, represented by our UK Investor Relations Congress on July 17 in London. There will be no PowerPoint presentations, and, indeed, no speeches. Instead we’re hoping to provoke some eureka moments through a series of gameshow-like panels and debates. Even the requisite networking is being revolutionized in the form of a structured lunchtime session.
We used to do educational conferences. Now you know your job. What you don’t know is what your job will be in a year or two. Our new conference format is meant to prepare you for whatever is waiting for you around the next corner, be it a jerk or a creep.
