It’s obvious what a smarter planet means for large, complex systems that constitute the way the world works.  It’s obvious that our cities, organizations, supply chains, economies and the planet’s environment – from water systems to climate systems to forests and beyond – could become manageable and sustainable in wholly new ways.

But, what does a smarter planet mean for the individual?  If the job of leaders is to act more like followers – by listening, facilitating, collaboration, acknowledging that they are not in control, opening up, becoming far more transparent, and etc. – then perhaps the job of “followers,” i.e., the world’s poor, the new populations joining the middle class, employees, global citizens, and etc., may be to act like leaders – to be bold, to act like they own the place, to experiment, to expand their horizons.

How might individuals begin to do that?  Here are three ways:

1. Utilize Web 2.0
2. Look at your own area of responsibility through the lens of ’smarter planet,’ and see what this frame lights up… what it transforms… what it could expand
3. Personally engage in the big-picture societal work that is newly possible

The challenge of leaders is to seize this moment, to embrace the world’s eagerness for change and use it to be bold, game-changing.  But, as families, as neighbors, as employees, as partners, as suppliers, as scholars, as global citizens … we can seize the same opportunity, too – the chance to change our lives, our work, our communities, our future.  And the way to do that is to participate, to co-create, to network, to jam.  The key is to understand that these amazing new capabilities make the planet’s infrastructure available to the individual, to every individual, without regard to wealth or physical location or power.

In other words, the exponential increase in connectivity — and therefore in ’smart’ connections — means an exponential increase in new ideas, new products, new businesses, political and economic relationships and institutions and new communities.  That’s the deeper promise of a smarter planet – far larger and more consequential than the initial increases in efficiency it will drive.