Five Things I Wish I Knew In Fifth Grade


The future is in your hands
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The issues we face are changing

In 1900, the major concerns in cities involved the environment, disease, energy, communication, and economy. The environment in our cities was harmed by pollution from the horse manure in the streets. Infectious disease was killing large numbers of children as people flocked to the cities for jobs. The primary source of energy was coal, which poured soot into the air. It took 15 weeks to get a message to India from the United States. The industrial revolution was well under way and the movement of a largely unskilled labor force from farming to an industrial economy was a big concern.

In 2000, the major concerns were still the environment, disease, energy, communication, and the economy. The environment was being polluted by smog and acid rain from fossil fuel burning cars that were not invented in 1900. Infection had been largely wiped out by antibiotics, but heart disease, viruses and cancer are the major killers. The primary source of energy is oil, although France gets 80% of its electric power from nuclear energy, a power source not even thought of in 1900. With email, a message gets to India in seconds and the internet has opened communication up around the world in spectacular ways. The knowledge revolution is well under way and the training of a largely unskilled labor force from an industrial to a service and knowledge based economy is a big concern.

The future concerns for the environment, disease, energy, communication, and the economy are impossible to predict. None of the issues that exist today were predicted in 1900.

The rate of change is getting faster

There are more scientists alive today than in the entire history of the world combined. These scientists have access to powerful computers and can access all the information ever researched before them, Entire industries are being reinvented. For example, the printing technology didn't change between 1500 and 1750. For 250 years it was the same. In the last 15 years, the publishing industry has changed twice and it is about to change again.

The impact of technology is amazing:
  • Pagers - It took 41 years to have 10 million pagers in use
  • Fax Machine - 22 years
  • VCR - 9 years
  • CD Player - 7 years
  • Personal Computer - 6 years
  • Internet Web Browser (Internet Explorer) - 10 months
  • MySpace - 4 months. 11 months after launch a concept that didn't even exist and a business model that wasn't possible two years before had a market value of $1.8 billion.

We are in our forties. We use a laptop computer (which didn't exist when we were born), to connect to a cell phone network (which didn't exist when we were born), to connect to the Internet (which didn't exist when we were born), to connect to Amazon (a business model which didn't exist when we were born). We may be old, but the fifth grader from today couldn't do this when they were born either. Oh, and by the way, the cell phone infrastructure built in the 1980's and 1990's in the US that enables all this is out dated and needs an overhaul.

The global business world is changing

And that change is not just from new technologies. There will be 2 billion educated workers entering the work force from China and India over the next 10 years. There will be more use of goods and services in the next 25 years then the cumulative use of the world in history. As jobs and the use of goods and services spread around the world, the spread of wealth will change. Today, the spread of wealth is unequal. We are in the high wealth nations. My generation benefited from a birth right of wealth. The next generation won't benefit from that same birth right. You will have to earn it. The world where you will earn a living and feed your family will not look like today's world. Does the world of 1900 look like 2006? The change will be major. Like 1900, the changes will occur in ways that will boggle our minds.

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Pete Blazek and Dennis Stevens lead Synaptus, a consulting firm that helps executives improve business performance by connecting strategy to execution. For more information, please visit www.synaptus.com.