8. Ethics and altruism is cool - COINs need Cops

In the beehive there are the guard bees, looking for law and order. They keep intruders out, and even sacrifice themselves if needed to protect their swarm. A similar role exists also in human swarms, people making sure that Collaborative Innovation Networks work together on high ethical standards. Like the bees, where guards sacrifice their own life if need be for the well-being of the swarm, human swarms are most successful in coolfarming new trends if they have an altruistic element.
Why is it that “Harry Potter” took the world in storm and became a global phenomenon in just a few years? The reason is that Joanne Rowling did such a great job painting Harry as a perfect role model – a trendsetter – for its target group, teens and teenagers. Harry is “one of them” and a role model the teens all strive to be. He is at the same time an underdog who has to fight to survive, and the most admired boy in his wizarding community. He is human with all his defects and weaknesses, but at the same time he is unbelievably brave and courageous, protecting the weak, and trying to make the world a better place by ridding it of evil Lord Voldemort. In short, his behavior has altruistic elements. In a swarming world, Harry Potter offers an irresistible mix for success.
Danish heating and cooling equipment manufacturer Danfoss demonstrates that same approach. It has been in this market for over seventy years, but over the years has taken a more and more community-oriented approach, repositioning itself as a leader of sustainable technologies, with stellar success. It is adamant about catering to the needs of all stakeholders, shareholders, employees, customers, and the rest of the world. It even offers a lush experimental science park, called the “Danfoss Universe”, where everybody can learn about technical and scientific phenomena relevant to Danfoss, providing invaluable user feedback to the company.
Why is it GM bonds have gotten junk status, while Toyota has become the most valuable car company? GM placed its bets on gas guzzling Humers, while Toyota positioned itself as the leader in green technology. It pays to do good to the environment, and invest into green technologies and sustainability.
Muhammad Yummus, peace Nobel price winning founder of microlender Grameen bank, extends swarm business to social business, where stakeholders, shareholders and the environment converge, and dividends are paid though making our world a better place.
In a society which operates under high levels of altruism, that is where people put the good of society before their own selfish needs, interpersonal trust is usually high. The good thing about high levels of trust is that it reduces transaction cost. In a society with high levels of trust there is no need for a ruthlessly sophisticated costly law-enforcement system. This has been shown in a simulation experiment by academics Iris Bohnet and Bruno Frey. In a fascinating experiment, More order with less law: On contract enforcement, trust, and crowding." American Political Science Review 95(1), 2001, 131-144 (Irish Bohnet, Bruno Frey, Steffen Huck) they found that contracts with either very high levels of trust or very low levels of trust had a higher chance of being kept than the ones done under intermediate levels of trust. This means that if somebody would be strongly punished, or not be punished at all, the chances for a contract to be kept were the best. This translates very well to either a situation like in the old communist countries, which had draconian punishment if contracts were not kept which led to people generally keeping them, or a situation like in a small village where everybody knows everybody, and punishment for breach of contract is replaced by shaming. The same is true for the micro-lenders of the Grameen bank. They have no collateral to put down, but will be publicly shamed by loosing face if they default on their loan.
The more leeway members of a community have - the more trust the community gives to them - the more careful members of a community will have to be admitting new members. But once members are left in, collaboration inside the COIN will be extremely efficient.