The Decade Ahead
There is no one I know that does not feel the effects of events from the last decade. It’s sometimes overwhelming to me and recalling just one of the life changing catastrophic occurrences: 911, Haiti, school shootings, ponzi mayhem… not to mention the banking failures, the jobless rates….on a personal level have been devastating and not just to one or two people but nations! And the United States, once known as the most powerful nation in the world, has been reduced to scrambling just to stay afloat, so say the many of the economic academicians around the world. Well maybe we all feel that way sometimes. The media says we are an angry nation, frustrated, confused and at polar opposites politically.
I say, as difficult as times may be for many, we as a country are in the best position to change everything for the next level of our economic growth. What happened to put us in this tail spin is multidimensional for sure. But if we do not learn from the things that sent us reeling as a nation, well, shame on us!
So what needs to happen? How can we recover? What changes need to take place? Is there even hope, and the big big question… WHAT IS THE QUEST?
Is it world domination over Microsoft, as Bob Young use to tease in our early days at Red Hat? I ask playfully, but I am also quite serious. The world has major challenges facing it. Aging is just one of the pressures threatening the world with further upheaval. To me it seems to be the most serious. I understand threats to water, I get food contamination, I get threats of war, and let’s not forget the addiction to oil that must be healed. We are depleting the world of natural riches and few seem to take consistent notice. There are no profits trying to heal the earth of depleted resources.
We are a nation reeling from the effects of greed, ego, materialism to an extreme: frankly, being in love with extreme everything! A USA Today survey says 72% of respondents think corruption has increased in American We must turn this around; and turning around means cycling back to what matters. So I present my top 10 +1 trends of this decade necessary to turn things around:
1. Decade of Authenticity but really (I don’t care if you are the CEO, I don’t need to know that, I want to know what you can do for me)
2. Humbleness: Money? Don’t care how much you have. What will you do with all of it, can you affect positive change somehow. Can you help another human being in need or less fortunate than you (even if that means their bank account is $25 less than yours)?
3. This will be the Compassionate Generation
4. The Enablement Decade: U.S. and You as enablers: War- and oppression is all over the world! THE US will find ways, will be about, will do everything in its power (and remember we’ve lost this) to bring peace to the world. We are the world’s best enablers. If we enable the rest of the world to succeed and we find ways to fit us in we’ll all be healthier
5. The Self Propelling Generation: Business is not about the whiners.. the squeaky wheel is just that a squeaky wheel to sit in the corner…. There is no excuse at all in this country to not use every tool that (predominately Apple, facebook, linkedin, dropbox, and twitter ) have provided us to simplify business, interactions and communications. Get a grip, if you are complaining it is a thing of the past!!!!!
6. The Anti-Aging Decade: The most universal issue on earth!!! The US has a great advantage here with a bit more balance in our ages but we must find ways to build a better quality of life and aging gracefully.
7. CEO-less: businesses are more community run. Humble leadership that melds into its people and becomes one. Is that possible?
8. BRI……C: Brazil, Russia, India as great partners and possibly Free Trade Agreements the US could make for a stronger China and an overall stronger and healthier global market. But so many other markets are actually growing faster than the BRIC countries. The US and companies in the US should look for opportunities in these new, fast growth markets. Examples: Colombia, Turkey and Vietnam.
9. Fun: back to fun, family as a unit, the haphazard crazy extreme needs begin to calm into moral grounded family old fashion values. Really. Truth in everything we do is the ticket. If you need something, defer you and tell your loved ones.
10. Business: time for growth, rebirth, innovation, inspiring and revolutionary change; as the rocket was to the moon, the new electric vehicle will be to the need for no oil. What Apple has done to the PC, so shall all new innovations be user intuitive. Can the U. S. be a leader again in innovation?
11. YES, the US will lead again in Innovation.
