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 ValueActor—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 ValueActor 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 ValueActor moves beyond traditional transactional roles to create a resonating impact that sustains the business and the community. Guided by principles of trust, continuous improvement, and sustainability, the ValueActor redefines value and how it should be created, communicated, and delivered. Dive into the key characteristics that set the ValueActor apart and discover how embracing this role could be your strategic advantage in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Definition of a ValueActor™
A ValueActor 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 ValueActor takes on a 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 ValueActor are:
Value Creation: A ValueActor 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 ValueActor. It empathizes with their perspectives and seeks solutions that resonate with their expectations.
Storytelling and Communication: Leveraging the power of storytelling, a ValueActor 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 ValueActor 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 ValueActor operates with integrity, reliability, and transparency, building trust and credibility in his interactions.
Continuous Improvement: A ValueActor is committed to continuous learning and improvement, seeking ways to enhance its offerings and strategies to deliver even greater value.
Collaboration and Co-creation: Recognizing the importance of collaboration, a ValueActor embraces co-creation, working with others to develop innovative solutions and enhance value exchange.
Impact and Sustainability: A ValueActor 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 ValueActor 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 ValueActor
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 ValueActor, 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 ValueActors could be drawn toward each other (image to the right).
The Successful Depletion of Value Deficit
Two ValueActors 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 ValueActors 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 a good time 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.
