Chapter 9 - Engagement

“Gamification should empower people, not exploit them. It should feel good at the end of the day because you made progress towards something that mattered to you.” 

—Exponential Organizations, First Edition

In the preceding chapters, we spoke of Community and Crowd, Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms, Leverage and Shared Assets, and other attributes vital to the successful operation of an Exponential Organization. Engagement is the “glue”—the secret sauce—that holds these attributes together. This attribute, largely unique to ExOs, enables them to grow with unprecedented speed.

What is Engagement?

Engagement is the use of techniques like gamification, incentive prizes, and—more recently—crypto economics to keep stakeholders interested, involved, and increasingly committed to an organization’s MTP or shared purpose. Through Engagement, ExOs gain the loyalty of their customers and Community and convert Crowd into Community. Engagement helps to create virtuous, positive feedback loops—which in turn allows for faster growth through innovation and customer and community loyalty. Companies like Google, Airbnb, Uber, eBay, Yelp, GitHub, and Twitter all leverage different Engagement mechanisms.