Meet Ken Everett, Author of “Designing the Networked Organization”

If you see the network as the organization of the future, then this book is for you. Ken Everett thinks so, too, and he wrote this book to help the architects of such future organizations. 

Ken Everett is a bit of a maverick in the business world, and his new ideas about the “networked organization” will make MBA students re-think the nature of enterprise structures and relationships. Working with Everett showcases BEP’s dedication to developing international perspectives, and despite the time difference between New Jersey and Australia, he managed to find time to speak with us – a Wednesday morning for him, and late Tuesday night for us East Coasters.


Can you briefly tell us what your book is all about and why we should read it?

The book is about the ability to build an organization without an organization. It’s about building communities of people who share an interest, a product, a cause, a passion, a technology. In fact, the Internet is like this. Few people reflect on the fact that the internet is the largest organization of all mankind, but there’s no CEO. What’s the secret? There’s a whole heap of people all joined by a common understanding that is Internet protocol. It’s an organization without a CEO, without a headquarters, and very few people have thought about that. It’s the elephant in the room no one really wants to talk about because it threatens our presumptions about organizations. How many CEOs are really that interested in having organizations without CEOs?

What characterizes the internet? It’s made up of independent people, but equally a very strong community and its paradox is resolved via internet protocols which each organization eventually embraces.



What type of students or classes will benefit most from using your book?

I’ve been to business schools and I’ve had a look from time to time at the subjects that are taught and when I look at the courses taught, there’s very little on these organizational networks. Do you really go to university to set up a network? No. You go to learn how to join an organization, but that’s not the only way to go about things. I would love to open the minds of young people starting out in business of an alternative way to organize.



What are the top trends in your area(s)?

For organizations, there is a move towards networked organizations instead of personal organizations. It’s emancipation- anyone can do it. It produces healthier organizations, organizations that are innovative, resilient, “leaderful”. And it’s what enables you to craft a life. Each part of the organization takes care of itself. You determine what brand of computer you’re going to buy, the hours you work, where you live, and this all fits in to the fact that even if you lose one of your contracts, you can probably survive in a way you couldn’t if you were an employee at one firm, and this leads to huge resilience.



Major externalities have happened every four years or so and a business that is resilient and can survive them is the most desirable of businesses. It’s innovative because now there are people running their own independent businesses and try their own twists on marketing and this adds up to a huge salad bowl of innovation and the good ones that work, we spread around the network.



What made you decide to publish with Business Expert Press?

They were looking for authors! Selling collections the way that they do is innovation. The old publishing model is difficult today for any number of reasons.