Over the past few years there’s been a gentle shift from top-down to bottom-up power bases. So imperceptible you may not have noticed. The 1980’s ushered a new era of public ownership: British Gas, British Telecom, British Rail, British Steel and a slew of other manufacturers. We the public cherished our slice of BT, for many it was their first taste of owning a publicly traded morsel. And as shares climbed, the new public ownership culture proved popular. It was the new smart money.

[Shot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/silenus81/4307175681/]

The transition from state-owned company to the private sector saw the birth of a new animal: the pin-stripe adorned “fat-cat”. The french say of us Brits: “They love their maker. Britain is full of self-made men!” The fat-cats multiplied; pandemic fat-cat! They had special cars made for themselves with retractable steering wheels to accommodate their newly acquired fat-paunches. The fatter cats dispensed with their cars; in a single evolutionary step; they took to the air in their shiny new bisjets. I worked with a director in the late 90s; he was based in Manhattan but used to visit *England*. He was mildly miffed with his photograph in an annual report. And it had to go to print in the next 3 days. What would he do? He climbed aboard his Falcon, flew to Heathrow, was chauffeured to Hook, had his pic taken then went home; presumably with ego safely in tact. Shortly after, the dot-com bubble burst. Fat-cats were snapped into sobriety as they saw dividends slashed, bonuses cut and promising careers abruptly halted.

By 2002, the recovery was well underway. Banks had created shady businesses which, in hindsight, looked more at home in Vegas than high-street settings. Build societies demutualised, preferring to serve the greed of shareholders than the modest small time investors, they even went a step further by securing funding through markets rather than the more traditional route of good old fashioned savers. Inflation was the number one indicator and it indicated no problems whatsoever.

In early 2009, politicians embarked on public witch hunts, chasing-down errant bankers only to discover they knew nothing about banking at all! By mid 2009 politicians themselves became the target of much finger-wagging as their fiscal excesses were exposed to an angry public. Crowds gathered to demonstrate in London and other major cities and we were introduced to another new phenomena: kettling! A technique used by the Police to coral and trap protestors.

The past 30 years have been interesting. The past 5 years even more so because of two distinct and disconnected things which took place simultaneously and on a global scale.

1. Governments poured billions of public money into banks and big business in an effort to prop them up and secure jobs and homes, and in the process have in all but name nationalised many of these once powerful institutions. The free market will never be the same again.

2. Twitter happened; traditional news channels will give way to new ways of broadcasting breaking news. Iran elections trended for weeks signaling the global take-up of social media. The informed global general public start to pull the levers of government, businesses and public-sector services by means of Twitter. Issues are pounced upon and opinion pronounced with deliberate ease, ultimately power is being transferred to the twitterati with followers. [Read more here: Twitter Is a Player In Iran's Drama]

Fat-cats and free markets are all being chased out of town by pay-caps, pay-freezes and stricter regulation. It’s my speculation that power is sliding from the few to the many. Public ownership by default.

Oh sure, banks, royal colleges, government will all remain but the ground rules are changing. Accountability is the new kid on the block along with corporate social responsibility. How are public and private organisations responding? By means of digital engagement. A new dynamic that will see roles reversed. And one in which ordinary folk tell bosses, banks, manufacturers and governments what they want, how they want it and when they want it by.

This is the entitlement generation, it understands the power of social media and it’s not frightened to use it!