In hindsight, our mission to provide an all-round framework to achieve resilient growth throughout the business cycles originated from a meeting in 2012. We were invited to bring a local radio station into the 21st century by incorporating social and digital technology. While exchanging ideas, a concept started taking shape, introducing the Value Actor (called initially a value hub)—a transformative agent in the modern, interconnected ecosystem of business and society.
Gone are the days when an organization or individual could operate as a passive cog in the machine, solely consumed with their interests. In our intricately woven world, the Value Actor emerges as a proactive contributor, intimately involved in the co-creation, exchange, and fulfillment of value across various stakeholders.
Armed with a unique blend of empathy, adaptability, and authenticity, a Value Actor moves beyond traditional transactional roles to create a resonating impact that sustains the business and the community. Guided by trust, continuous improvement, and sustainability principles, the Value Actor redefines value and how it should be created, communicated, and delivered.
Let’s dive into the key characteristics that set the Value Actor apart and discover how embracing this role could be your strategic advantage in a rapidly evolving landscape:
Definition of a Value Actor
A Value Actor can be defined as an individual, organization, or any entity that actively participates in a value-driven ecosystem, engaging in interactions to create, exchange, and fulfill value with other stakeholders. A Value Actor takes on the role of a proactive participant, focusing on generating positive outcomes and meaningful exchanges to address the needs and aspirations of his counterparts.
Key characteristics of a Value Actor are:
Value Creation: A Value Actor is driven by creating value for others. It seeks to offer products, services, or experiences that contribute positively to the lives of its customers, partners, or the broader community.
Empathy and Understanding: Understanding the needs and desires of other stakeholders is vital for a Value Actor. It empathizes with their perspectives and seeks solutions that resonate with their expectations.
Storytelling and Communication: Leveraging the power of storytelling, a Value Actor communicates its vision, mission, and the positive impact it aims to make, effectively conveying its value proposition to its audience.
Adaptability and Agility: Just like an actor adapting to different roles, a Value Actor remains flexible and adaptable, responding to changing market dynamics and the evolving needs of its stakeholders.
Authenticity and Trust: A successful actor portrays their character authentically, and similarly, a Value Actor operates with integrity, reliability, and transparency, building trust and credibility in his interactions.
Continuous Improvement: A Value Actor is committed to constant learning and improvement, seeking ways to enhance its offerings and strategies to deliver even greater value.
Collaboration and Co-creation: Recognizing the importance of cooperation, a Value Actor embraces co-creation, working with others to develop innovative solutions and enhance value exchange.
Impact and Sustainability: A Value Actor is mindful of the broader impact of its actions, striving to create sustainable value that positively influences its stakeholders and the ecosystem it operates within.
In summary, a Value Actor embodies the essence of value creation and purposeful action, contributing positively to the interconnected web of value exchanges within a dynamic ecosystem.
The Birth of the Value Actor
To understand the origin of RoundMap’s first principle, let’s go back to the case of the radio station. Like in business, a radio station must create value to attract, delight, and bind an audience. Ideally, the value appeals to an identifiable group of listeners, allowing the station manager to capture value from advertisers.
We argued that the station would benefit most from the interactive media channels if they used it as an additional source of information (to be processed to fit the dynamics of the outgoing channels) while capturing online reactions from the audience and bringing those back in the radio shows.
To explain the concept, we draw a simple image on the whiteboard. An image that would become fundamental to our way of thinking:
This quick sketch in 2012 of how value is sourced (input), created (process), and delivered (output), would soon determine our way of thinking about the meaning of value creation and how each of us participates in its dynamics.
By perceiving every human system as an active participant in the value-creation process, indeed, as a Value Actor, we could explore the idea of interconnectedness and how various entities, be they individuals, businesses, or even natural systems, can contribute value to one another through interactions. This perspective has significant implications in various fields, from business and economics to ecology and social dynamics.
And by perceiving the two value states, either a surplus (+) or a deficit (-), we began to see how Value Actors could be drawn toward each other (image to the right).
Following the Depletion of a Value Deficit
Two Value Actors can be attracted when one has a surplus of some value (+) and another has a deficit (need) of that value (-).
However, the two must be nearby because magnetic forces are weak. This requires them to know each other’s value state. This can be achieved through signaling (advertising, newsletter subscription, online inquiry, etc.).
When the two Value Actors get close enough, the value can flow from one to the other until the value deficit is depleted, i.e., the need is fulfilled.
Usually, this is the moment to depart. But suppose the seller continues to engage with the buyer, proclaiming future value or the meaning attached to the brand. In that case, the buyer may remain in the immediate vicinity, which hands us the potential to reduce customer churn.
Also, since writing this post, my understanding of value creation has significantly deepened. I now recognize what I once saw as individual organizations contributing to a dynamic market ecosystem as part of a larger, more impactful framework: shared value networks. Value Actors are not just market participants but critical players in amplifying impact and mitigating adverse effects through collaboration. By working together, these actors create value for themselves and society, shaping a more sustainable and equitable future.
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