My early warning system is flashing, signaling that it’s time for business people to play a new game or take early retirement. Why the urgency? Because The object of the game is survival, and that requires crossing the great divide between where we are now and where we need to be a year from now.
We’ve lived on the left side of the divide for centuries. Enormous successes have lulled us into a complacent rhythm. We have wrought miracles: electrification, electronics, bio-tech, computers, television, mass production, biotech, trains, planes, and automobiles: you name it. I sent a letter by FedEx yesterday; scan - blip - look-up - and it will be on the other side of the country tomorrow; I shook my head and said to no one in particular, “I’m amazed that this works.”
Nonetheless, it’s time to move on. Everything is going faster, swinging further out of normal limits, and behaving erratically. We’re ripping along so fast that the wheels are about to fall off. Think demise of the planet, using up irreplaceable resources, turning up the heat, weapons of mass destruction (unlike Iraq, we have real ones), tribal and religious hatred, etc., etc., etc. This is entropy.
You cannot get to the other side incrementally. It’s the old conundrum of not being able to solve a problem when trapped in the same frame that created it. This is a phase change. You only get through it by taking a death-defying leap of imagination and courage. No matter how much you improve a motorcycle, you are not going to turn it into an airplane.
All is for naught if we can’t get to the other side. Sure, the lug-nut businesses will help keep the wheels on a little longer (and put food on the table, too), but the main event will be preparing people and organizations to take the big leap.
1 comment so far ↓
I have been sensing this for a while now. The strange restlessness when there is something that is about to happen. You are right, things are happening rapidly. The way this technology has suddenly exploded, it is difficult to even imagine the future. Few years ago when the dot com boom fizzled it seems people had anticipated this change, but it was not the time it seems. Now, as you have correctly stated when we are not expecting huge changes, these changes are already creeping into all spheres. On a very subtle level there is a massive revolution taking place. The strange feeling in the gut is because we can sense it coming. A wonderful post as usual and lovely graphic! Thanks for sharing.
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