|
"All that is not a true change will
disappear in the future society.î
ñBaronne Dudevant, 1842
Bob sat in his tidy den staring at the resume he had prepared when he graduated from
college. He felt old and used up. What had he been doing over the past 28 years that
would now make him marketable? The eager and green business graduate he had been
nearly thirty years ago would find the current business environment unbelievable.
He remembered the predictions that were made by leading futurists of the ë60s; while
many of their specific predictions were inaccurate, the magnitude in which Bob's
world was changing mimicked those voices from his past.
His thoughts returned to the present. Who would offer him a worthwhile job today
at his current income and benefit package? Maybe he should just leave this whole
new job idea alone. Surely his performance review next week would go fine. It hadn't
been his most productive term, but he had certainly proven himself valuable enough
over the years. And, besides, there wasn't really anything else he could have accomplished
during the past six months, what with all the crazy changes and upheaval in the company.
Bob pondered, ìWhat else could I have done?î He drew a blank in the attempt to answer
his own question. To his dismay, an even more ominous question came to mind, ìWhat
am I going to do next?î |
The corporate lingo of the 80ís and 90ís is strewn with terminology such as ìrightsizing,î
ìdownsizing,î ìreengineering,î and ìrestructuring.î In spite of these euphemisms,
the truth of the matter is simple. Individuals who were once capable of helping business
organizations compete in the 80ís are being told they no longer are profitable. Where
once these individuals could count on the company to provide lifetime career paths,
job security, medical plans and retirement funds, now they find themselves in fear
of the future.
What happened? Did the manager of the corporation suddenly become insensitive to
their plight? Did stockholders demand reduction of expenses to increase profits?
Were companies simply too optimistic and greedy during the expansion of the 80ís
and now being forced to cut the fat?
Yes and no. Although these are the factors often cited, and they play a part in the
phenomenon of restructuring, they don't begin to explain its sweeping and massive
effects. Instead of these reasoned human excuses, a far more fundamental and powerful
force is at work. What happened, you ask? Technology.
Mutating Technology
ìNature does nothing uselessly.î
ó Aristotle
To understand the power of technology to create both chaos and opportunity is to
understand the very nature of technology itself. The long-held view of technological
progress is one of slow and steady development. Humankind is often seen as the great
creator of its own advancement. By utilizing our gift of forethought and reasoning,
we feel we are able to better the future. This rationale has been the groundwork
of the scientist working industriously to understand and improve humankind's condition.
For example, we have all been taught about America's great inventors, Thomas Edison
and Alexander Graham Bell. The image portrayed in the grade-school curriculum is
of geniuses working to design somethingñbe it the light bulb, the phonograph or the
telephoneñwhich they realized would revolutionize daily life.
A closer study of technology paints a dramatically different picture. In the case
of Bell for example, the telephone was born not out of his determination to
Mutating Technology:
Unpredictable
combinations of
technological innovations that create unforeseen outcomes. |
ìreach out and touch someone,î but instead out of his efforts to help the deaf population.
The creation of a piece of equipment that was to become a critical and necessary
part of daily living was never Bell's intent. The majority of technological breakthroughs
and their subsequent results have been discovered in such an unplanned fashion. Realizing
this, we see a new archetype in which technology, as a result of sporadic and random
coincidences, is the natural creator of our reality.
ìMutationî means a change in form or nature. ìTechnologyî
is defined as a method, process or tool for handling a specific problem. Mutating technologies
are unpredictable combinations of technological innovations that continuously create
unforeseen outcomes. Viewed in this context, technology does not appear to be purely
the product of human intellect, but rather an independent determinant of human social
evolution.
Science historian James Burke makes the compelling argument that change almost always
comes as a surprise. Technological innovations are typically the result of coincidental
connections triggered by mistakes, personal relationships and accidents of time,
circumstance and place.
The underpinnings of modern technological developments have been largely predicated
on western scientific models. In its simplified format, this is a process of asking
questions about how the world or universe works. From these questions, theories are
proposed, then tested through systematic observation. If the measurable results concur
with the original theory, then a new way of viewing some aspect of the world is accepted.
If observed outcomes fail to prove the theory, then it is discarded as untrue or
false. In this way the modern scientific world is a process of asking questions to
which the answers are yet unknown.
New technology is born of this constant inquiry and investigation into what is possible.
Because it is not known what new information will be brought to light through the
discovery process, the long-term outcome cannot be predicted. Simply by asking the
question, ìIs the world flat or round?î we are profoundly changed by the answer.
If the answer is round, we strike out to master the globe's circumference. If, however,
we answer that the earth is flat, then the process of inquiry ushers us into a completely
different realm. Because we do not know the answers to our own questions in advance,
we do not know what actions the answers might spur.
One example of mutating technology is the mutation of the 18th Century technology
of rug weaving into the most powerful technological force of the 20th Century. The
question at hand, faced by the inventor Joseph Marie Jacquard was an elementary one:
How can rugs be woven more quickly? In the early part of the 1700s rugs were woven
entirely by hand. It was a slow, laborious process. It involved the painstaking process
of combining multiple colors and threads on looms. To speed up the process and achieve
elaborate designs, Jacquard created thin, perforated wooden boards to position thread
colors. These wooden veneers contained alternating patterns of solid wood and perforated
holes. Where holes were punched, the loom would automatically insert a designated
color to be woven into the fabric.
The gestation period for this technology to mutate was nearly 200 years. In the 1900s,
faced with the grandiose task of counting the people within the borders of the United
States of America, early census takers adapted this technology in a way that Jacquard
could not have anticipated. In order to count people faster, the punch card was created.
These cards formed a series of on and off switches that allowed mechanically driven
machines to add numbers at an unprecedented rate. Needless to say, this new technology
dramatically reduced the number of people and time needed to tally the census.
The same technology later mutated to form the binary system. As a substitute for
awkward on and off switches toggled by punched paper cards, this new system of ì1ísî
and ì0ísî was first used in the analytical engine, an analog version of modern-day
computers. With the early addition of transistor tubes, and later, silicon chips,
digital computing was born. The digital computer has mutated with nearly every other
form of technology. Computers take our phone calls, cool and heat our homes, give
us spectacular movie effects and market our businessesñnot to mention sending information
instantaneously around the world.
It is through such a process that technologies combine and come to be used in ways
that were unintended by those who discovered them. As new areas of scientific inquiry
develop, they necessarily give birth to a plethora of practical tools. These tools
are then further combined and mated with one another in a form of mutation that is
totally unpredictable and chaotic. In short, the inventor of the common household
electrical outlet could scarcely have imagined a nuclear power plant on one end of
the line, and a state of the art multimedia computer connected to the Internet on
the other. It is this tendency for technology to be combined in unintended ways that
is at the very heart of the human condition.
To help us capture this emerging world of random technology, allow us to introduce
our next character, Keith Lewis.
Keith Lewis represents the young computer wizard, the product of a world that is
quickly becoming integrated by computer technology. In adolescence, he suffered due
to the lack of understanding from his parents. They criticized and belittled his
time spent passionately learning about the intricacies of the emerging world of computer
technology. It seemed his father was only concerned about his grades and constantly
badgered Keith about all the time he ìwastedî playing Nintendo and Sega games. Keith
knew his father really feared that he would never amount to anything. His mother
constantly worried about how much time he spent in front of a computer screen and
the money he was spending on techno magazines and software. They were both disappointed
at his recent decision to quit pursuing his formal degree in computer technology
at the local university. He tried to tell them that if anything was wasting his time,
it was his ìstupid classesî with those archaic, behind-the-times professors. He felt
he could learn more about computer technology working at the local branch of a high-profile
company where they were in dire need of a ìtechnical computer guyî.
Finally, though, his parents are beginning to appreciate the power of Keith's abilities.
His mother asked him just last week to help her get the family finances onto Quicken,
and his father is wondering how to get on the Internet and use the computer as a
marketing tool in his business. Technology has broken through their protective shell
and is directly permeating their world. Keith is thrilled to be valued by his parents
for what he does best. Although in the six months since he started at Shea Reid,
Keith had been absorbing vast amounts of information about how to improve efficiency
and effectively utilize the computer in the manufacturing field, it seemed he rarely
experienced the opportunity to shine or receive acknowledgment for the tasks he completed.
He had imagined that once he had a real job he would automatically know what his
life was really about. He knows that he wants his work to have an impact on people,
to make a difference of some sort. He wonders, ìIs this it?î |
The Seven Immutable
Laws of Technology
Although we cannot predict future changes, we can understand the process by which
technology evolves. Paradoxically, while the technological advances produced from
mutating technologies are unknowable and largely driven by chance, the underlying
laws that drive these mutations are steady and unchanging. By understanding their
import and effect on today's business environment, we can make sense of the global
change altering worldwide economies. Knowing these laws can help businesses and their
employees understand both the threats and the opportunities facing them.
ìImmutableî means unchangeable. A ìlawî is defined as a
sequence of events in nature or in human activities that has been observed to occur
with unvarying uniformity under the same conditions. Because these laws
are immutable they are beyond the capabilities of any individual or social entity
to alter or suspend.
Law 1: Technology Drives Evolution
Law 1 tells us that each development in technology does not stand on its own, but
is only the latest in a string of unknowable and unpredictable mutations. These mutations
can provide an evolutionary advantage for individuals and civilizations that are
lucky enough to stumble upon them. Consider the implications of the stirrup, developed
during medieval times as a platform to aid horsemen in riding comfortably. Riders
soon found that the stirrup made it possible to stand in the saddle and wield heavy
weapons such as the broad sword and lance. The unexpected advantage delivered by
the stirrup to use heavy weapons while riding resulted in a dramatic shift in power
throughout medieval Europe. This quick acceptance of new technology bequeathed to
them an evolutionary benefit over less fortunate nations. In a similar fashion, technologies
in the fields of medicine, transportation and communication have bestowed evolutionary
bragging rights to fortuitous and fortunate societies.
These same mutations in technology allow civilizations to adapt to unforeseeable
environmental and political changes. When faced with dwindling food supplies or an
alteration in climatic conditions, early humans did not wait for the slow and cumbersome
process of genetic evolution, but instead utilized their new ability to adapt through
technology. Humankind is unique in this ability.
Due to the nature of technology we do not know in advance which new variants will
ultimately serve us as individuals or as businesses. For example, in the case of
prehistoric and genetic evolution, dinosaurs did not choose to become large. In effect,
they were chosen by nature because they randomly became so. They did not reason themselves
into becoming the dominant life forms of the planet; nor did they ìthinkî themselves
into extinction.
The illusion is that we control technology. We feel as if we choose the technology
that creates our reality. This may be the ultimate conceit of our science. In essence,
it is the technology we find that chooses us. We are seldom lucky enough to recognize
in advance these breakthroughs for their true force and impact.
Law 2: Technology Simultaneously Creates and Destroys
ìSecurity is an illusion. Life is either
a daring
adventure or it is nothing at all.î
ó Helen Keller
As new technology is actualized, often something is ravaged in its wake. The evolutionary
process followed by technology creates distinct winners and losers. Take, for example,
the invention of the automobile. As it became the accepted mode of transportation,
the companies that produced buggy whips suffered steadily declining sales. Because
of the slow depletion of their market, they were faced with closing factories and
massive layoffs. The jobs lost to this new technology were lost forever.
More recently, the effects of this law can be seen with the current obsolescence
of the typewriter in the face of computer word processing. The ìnew and improvedî
makes things old and outdated at an amazing pace. Today's companies are facing no
less of a dramatic shift. No one is immune. Jobs that were safe for generations are
being automated and made obsolete. They are not being lost to competing countries,
but rather to competing technologies. Countries that fail to accommodate new advancements
in economic structure, such as digital exchange of money and membership in large
global trade agreements increase their potential for being left behind. However,
for every job lost, a myriad of new opportunities become available.
New technologies that have the capability to creatively destroy massive segments
of economies or industries are rarely mutated from within the industry they ravage.
In this way, new evolutionary forces blind side business managers and entrepreneurs
alike. It was not a better buggy whip technology or an improved typewriter that decimated
these long-standing industries. Nor was it a better mainframe computer that nearly
bankrupted IBM. It was the innovation of personal computers and new network technology
that nearly brought the blue goliath, IBM, to a painful death. The new rule of the
game is that your long-term competition is likely to emerge from outside the anticipated
playing fields.
Law 3: New Technology will be Played Out
ìIf you build it, they will come.î
ó Field of Dreams
Useful technologies eventually become standard fare in the daily lives of humans.
If not used directly, innovations will be incorporated into new technological spin-offs.
Technology in and of itself is neither inherently good nor evil. It is only the next
permutation, an inanimate thing. It doesn't become a ìgoodî technology until we,
through our judgment and assessment of it, declare it so. Theoretically speaking,
the atom bomb, which could wipe out the entire planet, is a technological discovery,
nothing moreñnothing less. There appears to be little correlation between our self-acknowledged
typing of powerful technologies as ìgoodî or ìbadî and our collective willingness
to put these technologies to use. Even the potentially devastating power of the atomic
bomb was released when it offered the evolutionary advantage of survival.
We delude ourselves into thinking that if we don't like a technologyñwhether it's
the next wave of video games, the up-and-coming money management tool or a hard-line
marketing strategyñour dislike and avoidance of it will keep it from permeating the
current reality. It just doesn't work that way. Any technology that provides an evolutionary
advantage will ultimately be utilized.
Consider the recent innovation of cloning. Debate has just begun relative to the
moral implications of its use. If this revolutionary process is declared illegal
in the United States and other highly developed countries, its use will not be stopped.
Rather, it will be relegated to the domain of obscure global locations and Third
World havens. If, eventually, cloning proves useful and increases the likelihood
of survival for the societies allowing and promoting it, cloning will not merely
surviveñit will thrive. In this manner, technology proves to be the consummate Pandora's
Box.
This law should send a clear message to business leaders and entrepreneurs. Simply
because you find a technology to be weird, strange, threatening or uncomfortable
does not mean it can be ignored or discounted. Whether you sign its permission slip
or not, the next technological breakthrough will be embarking on the field trip to
accepted reality.
Law 4: Increased Speed + Increased Size = More Mutation
Throughout history the speed of new mutations has been derived from two critical
factors: the size of the network and the speed at which information can be exchanged.
To appreciate the size factor, consider prehistoric times. When early clans and tribes
dominated social relations, the time between innovations was long because communication
networks were limited to disconnected handfuls of people. The larger the network
of connected information sharers, the higher the probability that random coincidence
and connections will spawn new innovations. Currently, the size of that network has
been expanded to include virtually every human on the planetñnearly 6 billion people.
They are connected directly through the power of telecommunication, television and
the network of all networks ó the Internet. This interconnected global system has
expanded the size of the network beyond comprehension. It now forms a living organism
of information exchange.
The second critical factor affecting the speed of change is the rate at which information
is exchanged. An increase in speed of information flow exponentially increases the
speed of innovation. The sail, originally innovated in the Far East, took over one
thousand years to be shared and utilized on a global basis. If the sail were invented
today, the idea could be shared globally on the Internet in under eight seconds.
As the Internet and its bandwidth expand, information and its exchange and mutations
will grow without bounds.
To visualize this growth, picture a roller coaster sprawling endlessly across the
face of the entire planet. Instead of one car racing along a single set of tracks,
imagine millions of cars racing at ever-increasing speed in all directions. When
by random chance or coincidence two cars collide, the collision represents the creation
of new innovations. New tracks shoot in every direction from the point of impact.
The speed at which change accelerates is unprecedented. At the same time the network
of communicators is growing exponentially larger. And there's no need to wait in
line. Simply by breathing in the next millennium you are guaranteed a seat. Fasten
your seat belt and enjoy the ride.
Law 5: Technological Change = Social Change
ì We are what we know.î
ñJames Burke
The total sum of the currently accepted mental paradigms gives us the reality in
which we live. Reality takes form in the shape of our current beliefs, rituals, laws
and institutions. Our mental constructs tell us what new information to look for,
what to discard, and what data to reinforce. The latest social reality is neither
absolute nor is it ìrightî in the sense that it is more correct than previous realities.
It is only the latest in a long string of ways to look at the universe. Today's scientific
models and social conventions will be made obsolete in the same way that the belief
that the world is flat was abandoned centuries ago. Because of this, science does
not give us absolute answers, it only gives the answers we are currently able to
see. At best, it gives us a better method to deal with our current circumstances
and it explains the technology we use.
The very fabric of society is altered by the mutation of technology. Every institutionñfrom
government agencies to educational systems to our churchesñis being, and will continue
to be, affected. The manner in which we conduct even the most mundane of domestic
chores, such as grocery shopping, is not immune. Daily, more than 10,000 new products
and services are added to the world marketplace.
An excellent example of the manner in which technology and its application alters
society can be seen in the attempted use of birth control technologies to offset
the overpopulation problem in China. The prescribed solution involves the use of
birth control technology to limit each family to a single child. Eighteen years later,
the culture has shifted dramatically. The older generation Chinese report that this
ìonly childî generation no longer upholds the old Chinese values of obedience and
loyalty. Instead, they are rebellious and discontent with traditional family ways.
The new ideal is independence. Because of this sway in principles, there is now great
concern for how the elderly will be cared for in the future. For decades, the eldest
daughter was responsible for providing care to the aging parents. This is no longer
proving feasible or desirable from the viewpoint of the new generation. When the
ìonly childî law was decreed and enforced, did anyone understand the vast cultural
and moral impact it would create? Of course not. Would prior knowledge have changed
the policy? It's an irrelevant question. Once the first domino topples, society is
altered, often in precarious ways.
Technology forges a double-edged sword. One edge valiantly becomes our savior and
broadens our control of the natural environment, resulting in economic wealth and
luxury. The second edge, paradoxically brings with it a feeling of hopelessness and
disassociation. Technology is incapable of giving a deeper meaning and purpose to
our lives. With its luxuries comes a potentially heavy price.
The point is that our reality is being tampered with every second. As Daniel Burrus
says in his book, TechnoTrends, ìIt is not as important to know what to do with technology
as it is to know what technology does with us.î
Law 6: Technology Cannot Be Controlled
Who could have anticipated that an inquiry for how to produce rugs better and faster
would one day lead to computer technology? No one. Who would have speculated in advance
that the stirrup would shift the power base in medieval Europe? No one. Although
we assume that humans rationally and logically harness technology to do our bidding,
in many ways it is beyond our direct ability to control its progress. No one can
perceive or control how new technological breakthroughs will be combined. As each
new mutation is born it inevitably produces a legacy of unintended outcomes. We cannot
limit technological mutations in advance. Beyond this, we are poor regulators of
emerging technologies and their successors.
The resulting effects on the world we live in are often dramatic. Technological progress
has wrought polluted waterways, dirty air, acid rain, depleted rain forests and a
hole in the ozone layer. While we have made some small progress in addressing these
undesirable effects of technology, our restraint and collective self-control of utilizing
existing technology have not solved such problems. Rather, these predicaments are
continually addressed through the application of new technologies. Air scrubbers
remedy air pollution. Sanitation stations address water pollution. Nuclear power
plants help solve the problem of fossil fuel pollutants destroying the air by reducing
the need to burn oil and gas to produce electricity. Unfortunately, they paradoxically
create the new problem of nuclear waste. It is the continued ebb and flow of new
technological advancement that keeps philosophers and scientists alike wondering
if our technological juggernaut will ultimately destroy the planet we inhabit or
create the utopia long sought by humankind.
The irony of our age is that if we do not directly control technology, and if technology
defines who we are, then we are not in direct control of who we are. Who we are is
not determined by cognitive choice, but rather by the evolutionary advantages bestowed
upon us by forefathers lucky enough to stumble upon the tools that helped secure
their survival. As technological change accelerates, who we know ourselves to be
necessarily changes with it. The uncertainty of our individual place and purpose
is formed from the ever-changing backdrop of technological mutation. An ever-changing
reality is largely to blame for the stress and uneasiness many of us feel. To reduce
our stress, we must purposefully design an identity and purpose that transcends the
defining characteristics of rapid technological change.
Law 7: Technology Creates the Potential for Unlimited Wealth
ìIf one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams,
and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined,
he will meet with success unexpected in the common hours.î
ó Henry David Thoreau
The interconnected nature of the first six Immutable Laws of Technology epitomizes
the seventh and final law. It states that as participants in the mutating force of
technology, we all have access to unlimited wealth. Technology alters the mechanism
by which traditional wealth has been defined. We will explore, in depth, how it expands
the potential for personal and corporate wealth creation. It will be demonstrated
that wealth is plentiful and widely accessible to those who use their innate, specialized
human capacity to harness the forces sweeping the planet. To accomplish this it is
necessary to transcend commonly accepted models of wealth creation and break the
confines of self-induced roadblocks.
When we play the role of a passive bystander, we allow technology to define who we
are. The human tendency is to unknowingly allow technology to form the boundaries
of who we know ourselves to be, what we are capable of, and how we interact with
others. The technologically dictated confines appear to be absolute and irrefutable
without any direct say from the individuals participating within them. Much like
a fish swimming in a bowl of water (incapable of distinguishing any reality other
than the ìwetî one created by its immediate environment), humans find it difficult
to distinguish the current ways of looking at the universe, communicating or working
as only one possible paradigm in which to live. By applying the Strategic Designs
introduced in Chapters 4-9 of this book, it is possible to become an active agent
in the creation of who you are and who you will be in the face of kaleidoscopic technological
realties. Personal transformation lays the foundation for a new level of confidence
and stability.
This book, like any other book, cannot predict the future. As demonstrated by the
Seven Immutable Laws of Technology, we cannot control technology and we don't know
its impact ahead of time. While we do not have the ability to foresee specific occurrences
or predetermine any particular course of events, we can comprehend the overall schemata
in which meaningful progress is produced.
The FlashPoint Framework, demonstrates how breakthroughs can be achieved in the areas
of technology and social paradigms as well as areas of individual growth and personal
transformation. The blue line on the left side of the chart represents past resultsñthe
outward evidence of progress. For example, this line could represent a useable technology,
such as that developed by the American automobile industry. Since its inception in
the 1920s, the American automobile has experienced dramatic upswings and declines
in terms of its application of new technologies such as seat belts, fuel injection
or air bags. Progress has been achieved incrementally.
In a similar fashion, this line could represent results within an agreed-upon reality,
or social paradigm. For example, consider the belief that the sun revolves around
the earth. Under the Ptolemaic version of the universe, the heavenly bodies were
perfect spheres in a divine plan centered on humans and the earth. As a support for
this perceived reality grew over the centuries, the prevailing view of the universe
precluded the need to examine alternative or competing ideas. Social and technological
progress of this late medieval period was relatively stagnant.
While Ptolemy and his astronomical successors had all the evidence they needed to
support their theologically correct view of the universe, a revolutionary new theory
languished outside the accepted social paradigm. In the early 17th Century, Galileo
theorized and found evidence to prove that planets in our solar system circle the
sun. He was condemned to house arrest by the Catholic Church until his death in 1642.
His book on the subject was banned by the Church for another 200 years. Nevertheless,
Galileo's theory shattered the social consensus defined by the Ptolemaic paradigm,
and it helped launch the Renaissance era of enlightenment that largely operated outside
the constraints of the Catholic Church. Thus, the steadfast Catholic Church saw its
influence wane relative to other sectors of European society, which flourished as
a result of this scientific FlashPoint.
The blue line on the chart can also be applied to an individual's personal growth
and achievements, whether it's his ability to effectively clean the house or her
mission to feed the hungry. The overall characteristic of this line is to produce
incremental and marginal progress.
In examining the right side of this graph, which depicts the future, the dotted blue
line represents the expected course or improvement experienced without the occurrence
of a FlashPoint. In the absence of extenuating or extreme stimuli, the prescribed
formula for growth will continue within narrowly defined limits. In a personal context,
we learn and master the factors that help our progression toward our ultimate goal.
We can count on seeing incremental betterment, with periods of little or no headway
marking our progress. From a technological and social context, we can simply expect
more of the same.
It is at the FlashPoint juncture that the slow and steady improvement pattern is
broken. When technologies mutate, when social or personal paradigms shift, it is
then that something new and hitherto unimaginable suddenly bursts into beingña FlashPoint
occurs. Following the FlashPoint, future results are completely unknowable and unpredictable.
Where once outcomes and expected results were highly restricted by past conventions,
now an unlimited array of new possibilities is at hand. When a FlashPoint occurs,
fresh and exponential growth is made possible. Individuals, societies and technologies
that continue along the prescribed path of the past are likely to improve gradually
until they are completely eradicated by a future FlashPoint. When a FlashPoint occurs,
the traditionally expected results often pale in comparison to the unimaginable futures
that have now become available.
As change is continually heralded in, it's useful to examine the semantics that shape
it. For instance, when technology changes, grows or improves, we call it mutation.
When an entire social reality is modified, the paradigm shifts. When an individual
is able to rearrange their personal belief system and redirect their activities,
we call it personal transformation. The common element is that a FlashPoint serves
as the catalyst for all of these changes.
After five exhausting hours of client meetings and operational breakdowns, Mary Prenner
paused in the reception area of her suite after seeing the last of her morning clients.
Reluctant to find out what lay ahead for her afternoon, she began tidying up. Mary
straightened the stack of Money and Financial Planning magazines, and adjusted the
bull and bear bookends on the shelf in the waiting area. Unwilling to return to her
office and wade through the stacks of paperwork and mail on her desk, Mary plopped
herself onto the comfortable sofa and began to leaf through a magazine.
Instead of reading each article diligently as she normally would, Mary found herself
looking at pictures and daydreaming about spending a month every summer vacationing
with her twelve-year-old daughter, Jessica. Mary had been making promises to herself
and to Jess for twelve years now, certain that their ability to spend ìmore time
togetherî was just around the corner. But it hardly seemed possible right now, due
to the demands of her business. Yet things were getting better ó she hadn't worked
the past few weekends, and even though she had lost several clients, her income was
going to increase by nearly 20% this year. Although things appeared to be just fine,
Mary wondered why she still felt restless and trapped.
As she turned the pages of the magazine, something caught her attention. It was an
article titled, ìAre You Trapped by Your Success?î Mary was shocked and a little
uncomfortable about finding an article that hit so close to home; she had to read
it.
The article told about other professionals having experiences similar to her own.
She discovered that there were individuals who consulted with these overworked, over
stressed business people. They called themselves ìcoaches.î Mary was intrigued by
the concept and pondered whether or not a coach could help her.
Revitalized by the knowledge that she wasn't alone in her turmoil, Mary returned
to her desk and began to search the Internet for more information. Within minutes,
she found herself on a web page that was actually a referral network for coaches.
It included geographic locations and brief bios on dozens of professional coaches.
As she explored, she came across a coach who was local and had excellent credentials.
Impulsively, Mary sent e-mail to the potential coach, Carol Jackson. Anticipating
a positive response, Mary completed her day with an optimistic perspective and relaxed
composure. |
Summary
The Seven Immutable Laws of Technology interact with one another to spin the intricate
web of technological advancement, which largely determines who we are as individuals
and, to a larger extent, who we are as a society. As technology pervades our reality,
we unwittingly succumb to its effects and live our lives as mere observers; or, worse,
we shield ourselves and live in fear of inevitable change. It is possible to disentangle
ourselves from the chaos of the vast and far-reaching tendrils of technological mutation.
However, this freedom from technology and its effects requires (1) an active understanding
of the underlying dynamics of technological forces and (2) the motivation to gain
perspective on how it affects our lives. FlashPoints represent the primary tool for
creating a future of heretofore unimaginable results.
FlashPoint Inquiries
1. Overall, do you tend to view technology as a friend or foe?
2. a) How are the 7 Immutable Laws affecting (1) your industry, (2) your place of
work, and (3) you personally?
b) What emerging technology presents the greatest threat and opportunity to the future
of your business?
3. Do you have a systematic method in which to identify new technology and explore
its possible use?
a) What policies or procedures exist within your workplace to promote new innovation
and technology?
4. Is your industry experiencing a major FlashPoint?
5. Using the FlashPoint Framework chart, what are the expected results for your business
three, five, and ten years into the future?
a) Will you be satisfied with these results?
FlashPoint:Mastering
the Art of Economic Abundance
($29.95 plus$3.95 shipping and handling)
To Purchase call: 1-800-801-2179 or it
is available on Amazon.com.
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